A Georgia Sunrise
by DoilyRox
Summary: D was your average mercenary. Like your average mercenary, she had a bitter-sweet past and a scary record. But when Koenma hires her to do her research for him on her latest project, she finds herself becoming too attached. Under revision! Hiatus!
1. The Researcher, D

Koenma looked over the mercenary's record. It was far too long for a person that young. He sighed, and glanced back over the name and completed missions chart. D, huh? What kind of name was that? Though he knew all too well it was probably code for something, he hardly cared what for. Better yet, he tried to imagine what kind of power the Japanese Spirit World would have if this, well, teenager, completed their research. What good could come of it? But no, he had no choice over hiring them. His father had recommended them, after all. Their bloodline, too, was impressive. He sighed once more before ringing in his ogre, George.

"Yes, Koenma-sama?" The blue, horned, servant of the Spirit World said stumbling in with another stack of papers Koenma needed to sign.

"Find and hire them." The toddler like ruler commanded. George put the papers on Koenma's desk, then took the file he was given.

"Right away, Koenma-sama." George was then ushered out of the room, with the file in hand, sent off on yet another task. On his way to find a ferry girl to give him a ride to the human world, he glanced over the thin folder. D? Poor child had such a poor name, he thought simply. But then, glancing over the rest of the packet, he saw who the recommendation was from. Gulping, with his eyes nearly popping out of his head as he reread it, he briefly pondered if he was going to be cremated or not when he was dead. Then, shoving the file under his arm, he found a ferry girl to give him a ride. Thanking her profusely, he didn't hesitate to tell her that if he wasn't back within the week, that they should have a funeral service for him, and that she was invited.

----------- ---------- ----------

George was quite the happy fellow the afternoon he was set to meet D, after all, should he die, all arrangements were in order. His mother would be sent a sweet letter explaining his death, and a new batch of flowers for her garden, and his little sister would get whatever came out of his life insurance to go to her schooling. Yes, he was quite satisfied by the plan, and so, sitting down on a park bench in the middle of America didn't bother him at all. He wasn't even bugged by the staring that some mothers gave him. But time came and went, and shuffling in his huge overcoat, he wondered if this D would ever come out. Soon the park was empty except for he, and standing up to stretch his sore muscles, he saw a dark figure heading toward him slowly along the road. The figure wasn't small, but wasn't large either. It was around human size, though he couldn't see much, even with such a bright moon out. He sat back down on the bench, waiting for it to come close enough to talk to. His nerves were staring to get to him, and soon enough, he had to gulp to keep his heart down. The figure walked up along the gravel road, and when it reached him, he watched it all too closely. It sat down, folding one leg over the other, and leaned back. Now the bench wasn't large, and George being an ogre, he took up a good half of it. But the figure fit well in the middle of the other half, it seemed comfortable.

"Beautiful moon out tonight, isn't there?" It said voice mellow, neutral. George couldn't tell if it was or wasn't a guy. He gulped, his response was to the point.

"How much would it cost to have you come complete your research for us?"

The figure chuckled, its chest shaking slightly with amusement. "Straight to the point, now aren't we?"

George tensed further, wondering if this was his end. Seeing this, the figure laughed a little more, the stopped to tell their response,

"I'd say a good quarter million, American dollars, upfront fee. Then a 100,000 per year that I work, for research fees, of course, I expect an annual examination of progress, those things are common, right? Then a million or two, however much I need at the time of task completion."

George near fainted on the sight, he had no idea what type of research this person was doing, but that wasn't a lot of money. He swallowed to clear his throat, then asked the last thing he needed.

"That's no problem, when and where will we be expecting you to show up, and will you live in Japan?" He soon got his response.

"I'll live in Japan, probably an apartment. I'm a swift learner, so I'll take lessons. You will see me when you see me, no more than a week from tonight. See you then, George." Then the figure got up and walked away. As if it was a ghost, George paled dramatically. When did he tell them his name?

---------- ---------- ----------

D inwardly sighed as she waited for Enma's son to see her. She had been here for 30 minutes already, and he was still stamping away at those papers of his. Then, she watched as he blinked, then turned his head to stare up at her. She knew what he saw didn't look like anything he had seen, but a human. Meaning, her gender was untellable. Of course, she was wearing a pretty long trench coat, and her bandana was wrapped in a way about her head to show none of her brown hair at all, as it shadowed her blue eyes. It's not as though she liked dressing this way, it's just she found that more people respected her as an equal if she looked like a man. He blinked again, as if he was wondering what stranger would have the nerve to interrupt him and his important work, before it hit him. She was D. The real, true, in person, D. Of course, he gulped and sat back in his chair, before folding his arms over his chest, trying to look as composed as possible, for a good first impression, of course. Clearing his throat, he spoke.

"D, am I correct?" He watched as the teenage human nodded.

"Well, as you probably already know, I'm Koenma. You must not know much Japanese, so I'll speak in English, do you understand?" He watched as the, as he had now decided it, boy, smirked, then nodded again.

"Well, a bank account, with the Spirit Worlds United Bank, has been opened and has your money in it. It's international, so you can use it anywhere; it's similar to the debit system, so you can spend any time. It takes on the form of the most popular debit card out there, so you can use it in both the Human and Spirit Realms. Your pay will be added to it, if you have any problems, we have many Spirit World Bankers, even a few in this very building."

Well, that's useful, D thought, and nodded to show he may proceed, which he did.

"It seems you're very wanted for a mercenary, so I find that you do other jobs while still researching is acceptable. However, there will be a yearly check to see your progress; it seems you were aware that that'd be necessary." He paused, glancing downward, before continuing, "Your record is credible, and it shows that you've worked on both sides, the government and the, well, other side. If that's all, where will you be staying?"

"An apartment in the human world, that's all you really need to know. I'll come here whenever I feel the need." D answered calmly, in perfect Japanese. Looking at the princes shocked expression; she coolly turned around and walked out of his office. Yes, he'd be hearing from her very soon.

---------- ---------- ----------

D stepped up the stairs easily, there was only 17; she had counted earlier. Her apartment was on the second floor of a small, downtown apartment building. Well, her main one was, at least. She had three stationed across Japan, this was in the middle of the most spiritually saturated area. The gray concrete outside flooring, and the eastern design style reminded her of America, so she had rented it. The door was a dark green color, with the door handle a shiny steel color; she took it all in as she walked inside. Immediately to her left was a small living room, with two couches facing each other and a coffee table in the middle. To her right was a bar, with three seats. It was the kitchen area, which she had previously stocked with the necessities for cooking. Straight ahead there was a small hallway, which led to a bathroom door to the right, laundry room to the left, and her bedroom door, the middle one. She walked straight ahead and opened the door to her bedroom, which held very little. A small chest of drawers, with a king mattress on the floor beside it, and a small lamp on the floor to the other side of the bed. This was her new sanctuary. She fell unto the bed, and sighed contently. _This is going to be great, I'm away from everyone I used to know out here, and no one I don't want to know can reach me_, she thought blissfully. Slumber came to her quickly, at least, quicker than before.

---------- ---------- ----------3 months later.

D climbed the steps to Genkai's temple, those endless, endless steps. She knew she wouldn't pass out from exhaustion, but she sure did feel like it. Finally, when she reached the top, she felt the rewards of her efforts already. The old lady that lived here had a great amount of spiritual energy, she could feel it. She smiled, allowing the residue waves of spirit energy that was left wherever someone went to hit her. She examined it inwardly; it had a definite feel about it, as all spirit energies do. Everyone's was different and unique, and this was no exception. Yet, she couldn't help but sense the feeling of death coming off of it. Not like fresh blood was spilt here recently, then she would feel more traces than one, but the feeling that whoever's trace this was, was close to death. She almost pitied the lady, but then, she hadn't met her yet. D walked up to the temple, and stepped up unto the surrounding walk way carefully. She lifted her hand in a fist, about to knock, when the door slid open.

"Idiot, you don't knock on sliding doors." An old lady with graying pink hair, and a lot of wrinkles said. She was on the short side, probably around 4'. But of course, that didn't stop her from having an extremely fierce look to her.

"Oh, sorry, I didn't know that, I'll keep it in mind. I'm D, and I want to know if you, Genkai-sama, would be kind enough to answer a couple questions for me?" D said, rubbing the back of her head.

"I know who you are, and don't try that innocent crap with me. I've heard all about you." Genkai stated, staring up a D. D decided something at that precise moment. She would Never, Ever, pity this lady. Not even when she died. Genkai turned around and walked back inside.

"You coming or not, American?" Genkai yelled back at D.

Pausing, and tilting her head, D chose to follow, being sure to take off her shoes at the entrance. After jogging to catch up with Genkai, she followed her into an empty room, where there was already tea set out for two. Genkai sat down, grabbed her tea took a sip of it, and sat it back down. Looking annoyed, she snapped at D.

"What are you, an imbecile? Sit down and drink your tea!" Jumping, D did what her elder said, well, the sitting down part, at least. She didn't drink tea much.

"Well, what did you want to know?" Genkai asked, staring at D.

"Well, the truth is, I would like to see you perform Reihado, I need to see it before I ask anything else." D said simply, this was just research; she needed to see what type of vibrations came off and went in when such a powerful move was done.

"Not on your life, kid. If that's all you wanted, then leave. I have better things to do than amuse little brats." Genkai snapped. D twitched, she hadn't been called a brat since, well, a long time. But she was still persistent; she really needed to see it.

"Please, I need to see it for my research! I'm working with the Spirit World! I would never use it!" D was almost begging with her tone. She really wanted to see it; it was for the betterment of her research.

Genkai hardly seemed the least bit moved. "I'll tell you what kid, when I find a good successor, you can try to rip it off of them, but not from me."

D blinked, successor? She hadn't heard of that yet. So the old lady needed one, eh? Smiling, she stood up. "Alright, will do. Please, do tell me when you find one, I would like to examine their process of training, the information would be invaluable. Besides, if their good enough to be your successor, perhaps they're good enough to survive a couple of my tests. I'll be in contact." With that, she turned around and started to leave.

Genkai watched her leave, before smirking to herself. So this was how the word would get out, is it? It amused her, to see such a young girl, well she thought it was a girl, be so content with so little. But then again, she might just keep in contact, because if she really was working for the Spirit World, they would need to.

---------- ---------- ----------3 weeks later

Genkai picked up the phone and dialed the number Koenma had given her.

"Hello?"

"D? It's Genkai; I've picked my apprentice, would you like to come over for some tea? He needs to meet people who can give him connections."

"Ehhh? Genkai-sama, are you calling in for a favor? Or will I actually have a little fun? You interrupted me in the middle of something very important, you know."

"Just get over here. Now."

"Yes ma'am, I'll be there as soon as possible."

"Good." Genkai hung up the phone right before her apprentice walked in.

"Oi, grandma, who were ya talkin' to?" Yuusuke Urameshi asked rudely, sticking his pinky in his ear to clean it. He had black, slicked back short hair, and brown eyes.

"That's for me to know and you not to, dimwit. Get back to work, now." She commanded almost demonically. Without even a yes ma'am, he went straight back to it, though he did complain along the way.

----- ----- D's apartment

D stretched happily after her phone call from Genkai. She had been doing something important, but she considered meeting Genkai's successor more fun. After all, sleeping was only cool when you dreamed, and even though that happened often, she didn't last night. So she got up and got dressed in her usual outfit. This was going to be really fun, and informative.


	2. The Successor

Yuusuke Urameshi was hardly interested in meeting anyone new. All he wanted to do was get these 3 months of hell over with. Grandma was, of course, putting him through it. _I mean seriously, who climbs up sheer mountain cliffs with weights,_ Yuusuke thought, complaining even more to himself as he walked down one of the temples many hallways.

"Stupid toddler, all I wanted to do was go see a wrestling match, but noo, he has to sign me up for this stupid training!" He spoke his thoughts, unaware he was thinking them aloud.

"Now Yuusuke, that's no way to talk about Koenma-sama! He's done good making you fight Rando, and allowing you to win the contest! After all, look how much stronger you've already become!" The cheery, blue haired ferry girl popped up right next to him.

"Botan? What're you here for?" Yuusuke asked, turning his head to the pink-eyed grim reaper.

"Well Yuusuke, if you must know, I'm here to warn you. There's someone coming up the steps, and they're pretty strong. If I had to guess, I'd say they were after Genkai-sama's blood." She said, turning serious.

"Pfft, probably just the guy Grandma wanted me to meet. But why would they be after her blood?" He asked her, hoping to get an excuse to fight.

"Well, they are a pretty well known mercenary. I've seen them in the Spirit World Records, at least, their picture and name, with a couple of their most well known achievements. I wouldn't try to fight them, if I were you. I would run, I mean, after seeing that piece of record on file..." She shivered, and tried to sound less scared, "Well, I would just make the smart decision."

"Relax Botan, if Grandma wanted me to fight them she probably would've said so." He paused, as if thinking, "Take that back, no she wouldn't. She loves messing with people's heads, after all."

"Yuusuke! That was uncalled for! Genkai-sama would never…." Her train of thought died off as the presence made its way to the top of the stairs, and headed straight for the front entrance.

"See? You agree with me don'cha? I bet she-" His voice was cut off by Genkai herself, telling him to go get the door and bring the guest to the dining room, dimwit. He sighed and made his way to the front door, Botan following closely behind him. He slid it open, and looked upon the oh-so-powerful mercenary.

----- ----- With D

There she was. Climbing those wretched, wretched stairs once more. It was spring, so the heat really wouldn't be so bad, but she was wearing a trench coat. So that too, was slowly withering her soul away. She pushed forward, tempted by the name of science to move on, but she was so tired. Finally, she reached the top of the stairs. With a sigh of relief, she trudged forward, pulling one foot in front of the other. When she finally reached the main entrance, she took a moment to straighten herself up. After all, albeit she may not look like one, she was a woman, and she took pride in looking nice. Out of habit, she was about to raise her hand to knock, when the door suddenly slid open. _Oh yeah, I forgot that you don't knock on sliding doors,_ she thought exasperatedly. But all too soon she was drawn out of her thoughts to the present. There, standing right on the other side of the doorway was the heir to the Reihado technique. A young man, probably around 14, with slick backed black hair and brown eyes stood in front of her. He was around 6', maybe a little less, and had a thug look to him. D was about to ask him his name when something blue bobbed over his shoulder. Raising an eyebrow at the pathetic attempt to hide, she smirked at the reaction she got from whoever was behind him.

"You're the person I'm supposed to meet? You look pretty small to be a tough guy." The guy in front said mistakenly. What did he think she was, a weakling? Her right eye twitched involuntarily.

"The name's D, are you going to let me in?" She asked, staying calm despite the annoyance he was.

"Might as well, I'm Yuusuke Urameshi. Come on in, Grandma has tea made." He said turning around and walking down the hallway. _Urameshi? He's related to Atsuko? _D thought, and pondered silently the possibilities if he was. The blue thing from earlier 'eeped' and stood shock still, staring right at D.

"Your name is..?" D asked the woman in the pink kimono, she had bright pink eyes to match.

"Ehehehehe.." She gave a nervous laugh, and rubbed the back of her head.

"Oi Botan, you comin'?" Yuusuke asked roughly, not turning around. Botan jumped slightly and ran to catch up with him. _Botan? Where have I heard that name before?_ D, once again, pondered the possibilities. She jogged slightly and caught up in no time. They walked down the hallways in silence, the only thing to break it was the sound of their feet on the floor. Botan kept shifting nervous glances at D. D understood though, she could be a very intimidating person, even if people haven't heard of her record. Soon though, they reached the dining room. It was like the room D had been welcomed into last time, but there was a glass coffee table on the floor with two mats placed on either side. Genkai was sitting on one, and Botan immediately went around the table to sit next to her. D, not wanting to be yelled at again, took the seat across from Genkai, and Yuusuke sat beside her.

"Have you introduced yourself yet dimwit?" Genkai asked sharply to the young man diagonal from her.

"Yeah Grandma, I have, so can you stop naggin' at me? Besides, I don't need to meet anyone, so can't we just speed this up so I can get these three months over with?" Yuusuke asked impatiently.

"Has he been a pain in the butt to you yet D?" Genkai turned her attention to the scientist. Botan stiffened, not wanting the answer to be yes.

D chuckled a bit, "No, he hasn't. It takes quite a bit to get me riled up. Besides, we need to get used to each other if I'm going to be able to get the maximum results."

"Results for what?" Yuusuke asked, turning his head over to look at, in his mind, boy.

"Be patient and she might tell you." Genkai snapped. Botan's attention was now completely focused on D. _I hope it's nothing bad…_She thought helplessly.

Once again, D chuckled, and a small smile made its way to her face. "No, no. It's quite alright for him to be curious. After all, since he is a Spirit Detective, I don't need his permission, simply Koenma's, and I'm sure he'd understand." With this Genkai nodded, and Botan face grew into a look of confusion.

"Permission for what? Why do you need the toddler's permission?" Yuusuke asked again.

_Did he seriously just call Koenma a toddler?_ D was in shock, but she also found it quite funny. After all, wasn't it hilarious to hear the Prince of the Japanese Spirit World be degraded in such a way? "I'm conducting a bit of research for an experiment I'm doing for the Spirit World. Even though it would be nice just to see the Reihado be preformed, when I heard Genkai-sama was taking an apprentice, a couple of my plans changed. I figure it would be much more informational just to watch your training, and record your improvements over time. Of course, I'd have to measure your strengths and give you a check-up once a week, but other than that, I'll be out of the way." She then looked over at Genkai, "Is that alright with you, Genkai-sama?"

She looked okay with the arrangement, and nodded her head while taking a sip of her tea that she had. Botan's face now looked like a mixture of shock and understanding, _Eh? So he's the one completing that experiment for Koenma-sama? Now I get it, I just hope he doesn't take this too far._ But Yuusuke, though, still wanted to know what the experiment was, so he asked.

"Well, you'll know that when I'm done, won't you?" D said, acting mysterious on purpose.

"What're the check-ups for? What'll ya measure?" He asked simply.

"Oh, just your heart-rate, Spiritual Functioning, Wave-lengths, blood pressure. You know, typical Spirit World doctor stuff." She said with a shrug.

"Eh? So you're like a doctor?"

"Haha, in a way. I'm more of a scientist than anything else. Well, besides being a mercenary." Yuusuke nodded his head in understanding.

"So what does the toddler have to do with any of this? Did he hire you or somethin'?"

"Precisely. Now I have to go make some arrangements for some things. I'll be back every Wednesday, you know, to break up the weeks of training. Oh, and since today's Monday, I guess I'll just start the next time we meet." D said, standing up happily. She practically ran out of the room, that smile still on her face.

"Well, he's an odd one, isn't he?" Botan asked cheerfully. Yuusuke looked at her with an eyebrow raised.

"I thought you were scared of 'em." It was more of a statement than a question.

"Oh pish-posh! I think that since we'll be seeing a lot of him, we'll become great friends!" Genkai sweat-dropped at the two of them referring to D as a male, _But then again, she might be. But besides that, why does she always get up and leave in such a hurry?_

----- ----- ----- With D

D happily trotted down those stairs she thought were wretched just moments ago. A happy smile stood out clearly on her face. The trees were blooming around her, and nothing in the world could be better. But then it happened. That same stupid *poof* sound that always comes with the little devil creature that ruins her day. It floated right in front of her face, and she stopped in mid-step to keep it that far away. Its head was small, no bigger than her fist, with two little horns coming out the side of it, its body was thin and scrawny, its skin red. Its ribcage showed through, and all that covered it was a thin, torn cloth over its parts. Its clawed hands held a scroll in it, tied in a roll with, as usual, a red ribbon. All in all, it wasn't bigger than the scroll it carried, which would probably reach from her elbow to her wrist. "Hello again, Marquise." She greeted almost angrily, with her smile no longer on her face. She looked into its black eyes when it spoke back.

"What shoved a fire stick up your pants? Or is it that you haven't had a fire stick in your pants?" The little creature said, wrinkling its already stuck up nose, and snickering with laughter.

"What is it this time, Marquise?" She asked the annoying, perverted little creature.

"Black Market again, mistress. Seems they have a new hit out on somebody." It said, getting serious, as it held out the scroll for her to look at.

"They always have a new hit out on somebody. Who posted it?" She began walking forward again, knowing the little demon would follow.

"It's from the Ripper. But I found it interesting, so you might want to take a look." He came up and floated over her shoulder using those two, tiny, red wings to keep him up. Her hand flew over the shoulder he floated on and grabbed the scroll. Bringing it in front of her, she untied the ribbon. Opening the scroll, she read as she walked.

_Wanted:_

_Youko Kurama3 millionBecoming a Spirit Detective, betraying his kind_

_Jaganshi Hiei3 millionBecoming a Spirit Detective, betraying his kind_

_Their heads will be accepted as long as you have __proof of death.__ No other way will be accepted._

"Oh? It seems Yuusuke has some pretty powerful allies. This is really going to get fun." She said as she closed of the scroll and retied it.

"You going to go after it? Seems like pretty decent pay." Marquise sounded genuinely interested with it. He watched as D put the scroll in one of her many inside pockets, and pulled out a several gold coins with emblems of fire on them. She tossed them over her shoulder at Marquise, and he caught them greedily.

"Nope, just like the information." She kept walking as he counted them out, pausing while floating in air. As if satisfied, he nodded, and with another *poof* he was gone. D was actually happy with the news. After all, if she was going to be hanging around with Yuusuke, then why not gather some information from those two while she was at it?

----- ----- ----- Wednesday

D sat up suddenly, sweat covered her face. The covers on top of her bed had been tossed around; even the mattress sheet was a bit messed up. She had a nightmare, not one of those irrational ones, but a truly terrifying nightmare. Putting her hand over her heart, and telling herself that it was just a dream, she slowly calmed herself down. She slowly stood up, her legs still shaking, and made her way to her bathroom. There she turned the coldwater faucet on, and splashed her face a couple times with it. She wasn't scared anymore; she could already hardly remember it. So closing the bathroom door and turning off the faucet, she turned on the hot water in the bathtub; she took a nice long, hot shower to wake herself up. After that, she did her daily routine. Brushed her teeth, got dressed, and went out on her motorcycle to grab a bite to eat. She felt like being nice, so she went to a place that had take-out. The closest one, that Yukimura place. Getting off her bike, she walked into the shop, and sat down at one of the bar seats. The man behind the bar asked for her order.

"Hmm, I would just like a bowl of ramen, please. But may I have some sushi rolls to go please? My friend would want some." The old guy looked pleased at her politeness.

"How nice of you, ordering for your friend. Don't see very many polite people like you around much anymore." He placed her ramen in front of her, and said that her sushi would be done in a minute. She immediately grabbed a pair of chopsticks and began to eat her bowl of ramen. It was delicious, she loved the flavor. After getting her sushi, and finishing up her ramen, she left, making a mental note to come back soon. After all, if they have good food, why not? Then she left for Genkai's. She arrived there soon enough, and grabbing her box of sushi, headed up those stairs. Strangely, she was starting to get used to them. She made it all the way up and was only slightly out of breath. From there she knew exactly where to go. Yuusuke's trace was extremely strong, so it was easy enough to find the area of woods where they were practicing. Oddly enough, she didn't feel Botan's trace there at all. Trees covered the land where she walked, and there was no trail at all. But she came upon a large clearing, with a stream on the opposite side and a giant boulder to her left. Right in front of her view, there was Yuusuke and Genkai. Of course, Yuusuke was being yelled at by Genkai, who seemed just as fierce as ever.

"No dimwit! You have to focus more! Blow through the boulder, not at it!" She snapped at him.

"I am grandma! All you're yelling is focus, focus, focus! But I'm focusing as much as possible!" He yelled back. D snickered to herself, she remembered when she was yelled at to do that. Knocking on the back of the tree, she grabbed their attention.

"Good Afternoon! You two look bright and cheery today." She walked over to them, and Yuusuke turned his eyes to the Styrofoam box in her hand.

"What's in it?" He asked, and sniffed the air for the smell of food.

"Take-out, do you like sushi?" D asked, and handed him the box.

"Hell yeah! You see grandma, this is how you act nice to someone!" He tore open the box and started shoving the food down his throat. Genkai scoffed, and turned her attention from the dimwit to D.

"So what do you have planned?" She asked, criticizing D's method of persuasion.

D chuckled, "Oh, I'll just watch for now, then after your done I'll take his blood pressure and heart rate. Everything else I can gather while you're working."

Yuusuke scoffed, causing some food to fly out of his mouth. "If you can call our arguin' work." D shrugged, and went to sit by the stream. Touching her fingers into it, she watched them work on Yuusuke's techniques, he had to punch through the boulder. She was amazed as she watched him fire punches again and again. His fists were rapid, and contained a lot of energy. She remembered everything, marking it down in her head as if she were writing on a chalkboard. Soon dark started to rise though, so she stood up and took the exhausted Yuusuke's blood pressure and heart rate. She could already tell that the time she spent here every Wednesday would be put to good use. Every Wednesday after that, she would go to Yukimura's, grab some sushi, watch Yuusuke, then go home and write down everything she saw, everything she noted. Adding it all up in her brain like layers on a cake, and she could already tell that the icing was going to be delicious.

And so every Wednesday for 2 months and one week, she worked and worked and worked. But all too soon, she had to say her goodbyes to Yuusuke and Genkai, for his time in training was up. She would miss them greatly, and she had gotten used to seeing them. But now she was heading for some bigger information gathering. She was heading for the Underground Playground, the city of night. She was heading for Leore.


	3. Hello Again, Leore

Leore wasn't hard to reach. There was an entrance in every major city across the globe. But driving down that highway on her silver motorcycle could get lonely. But she focused on other things, like how to maneuver past the heavy crowds, and get to the Mercenary Hut. If she took a longer route through the west side, she might actually save time. If those wretches of shop tellers would leave her alone, that is. Leore was the practical capital of the Underground, and as such, held the biggest shopper lane in all of the Underground. _Well, lanes actually…_ she thought. The whole city was a giant trade center. A wealthy, crappy, underground trade center. "_Underground is mainly a nickname, though. It's more of a black market sort of place. With so many shady deals here, it's a shame humankind hasn't found it yet; it's almost pathetic."_ Her memories betrayed her. Her thoughts strayed back to the first time she ever entered Leore.

_D was scared, it was so loud. She stayed close to her new father, he would surely protect her. She was, after all, his only daughter. Demons strayed everywhere, some merely glancing at her; other stared with a hungry glaze to their eyes. "Stay close child, we're entering the busiest part." Her father said with his ever calm voice. It soothed her spirit, and she caught up to hang onto his well toned arm. He looked down at her, and smiled. She turned her head upward, and smiled back; proud her father was happy with her._

She shook the memory out of her head, persistent that that was the past, and had no need being in her head, at the present. She still had an hour to go before she reached Tokyo. Sighing, she knew this ride was going to be longer than usual.

--- --

The city was just as busy as usual. Leore was lit from shop stand to stand, traditional red lanterns with fire emblems on them. Most tarps over the stores were red, and were ragged and torn. Here and there, though, there was some silk. And once again, as usual, demons crawled everywhere. Two ant-eater looking creatures with legs they were able to stand on were walking right ahead of her. But demons of every race, color, and breed joined here daily for business. The smell of sweets entered her senses. "Sweet roasted hare! Sweet roasted hare! Come 'n get your sweet roasted hare!" Soon followed, In fact, store keepers were yelling anything to get the attention of potential customers. She walked through the crowd with a sense of normalcy. She got a couple of stares, but only from travelers; everyone who was anyone didn't even spare her a glance. She was well known in these parts. After all, she once spent a week here, when most travelers consider it a risk to spend more than an hour. But mostly because during that time period, she made a lot of friends and enemies. To the idiots who tried to eat her or steal from her, she was an enemy. To Orea Demons, like Marquise, she was a close ally. But ignoring all the annoyances she got here and there, she became focused on finding the stall that she knew would give the key to her research. The ticket booth. She found it soon enough, it was one of the few who had a blue silk top instead of red. Shoving past a group of tourists, she gathered herself in front of a young Orea demon. It looked exactly like Marquise, except was blue and had a small rag wrapped around its thin shoulders and down to its knees. It's thin green hair was ragged and shoulder length.

"Hello Orea, are you new working here?" D asked politely, the creatures loved to talk.

"Why yes ma'am I am! My name is Shiruque, a pleasure to be of service. What type of ticket would you like? One for the castle, or perhaps the ferry?" It spoke sweetly, and D could tell that she really didn't think D was a tourist, but didn't want to make anything obvious.

"Oh, Im looking for tickets to something on a little higher class. Like maybe a tournament of sorts?" D spoke quietly, she wanted advance tickets, to secure her place. The tournament could be quite the crowded place, and many would kill for tickets. Shiruque nodded her head, and ducked under the wood slate that stood as a barrier from the crowd and a place to exchange. She floated back up, little blue wings flapping almost cutely, in her hand, a ticket.

"I take it you want a V.I.P. judging by your discreetness about buying one. 50 silver." She spoke back quietly. D passed her one gold coin, the fire emblem glinting almost dangerously in the light, and with a wink, took the ticket and started off.

"Ma'am! Your change!" The little creature looked distressed, as she scrambled around her stall looking for the other 50 silver. D glanced back and smiled at the Orea.

"Keep It!" She yelled over the noise of the crowd. Shiruque looked shocked, no one had ever been so nice to here. Ever. Smiling, she bowed her head to D while floating in the air. Having got what she had come for, D decided to do a little check up on the newest hits out in the Mercenaries Hut. She took a left at the closest split in the stalls. Walking fast, she quickly left the busy streets of the main lane. These back-ways were nearly deserted. Stone walls were moldy, and dripped water in some places. Only the occasional torch lighted the narrow way. Steps seemed to be cut into the stone, instead of out. And the rare wood doorways were bolted and locked. She passed one tavern, she knew it was one because it had a skull with crisscrossing beer bottle engraved in a wood sign above the unlatched wood door. Passing it without a second glance, she hurried and took the fifth right. These streets seemed to be wider, and more populated. A group of gambling demons stood outside one doorway. She kept walking, and as she passed them, she found herself surprised they didn't pick a fight. She moved forward, and following the curved roads, she finally came to a giant circular building. Instead of stone, it was made of leather skins sawn together and wooden poles tied with iron string.

She walked inside, pushing aside the leather bear skin they had made into a door. As if a sin had been committed by her very presence, all eyes turned to look at her. Some of the older people who've seen her there before immediately turned back to their work. She could tell who the newer ones were; they kept their eyes on her. Like the two hooded figures looking at some of the older missions. She, ignoring them, moved straight to the center of the well lit room. There was a post board nailed onto the center wooden post, and on it were all the new, hard missions. The jobs were scrolls, unraveled and posted to the board. They went on a first come first serve basis, whoever wanted the mission took the scroll. If they changed their mind, and was man enough to face the questions given to them by whoever was on looking, they would put the scroll back. There were boards like this attached to all the posts in the room. The newest were at the front, older ones in the back. It was a very simple set up, but still it worked, nonetheless. She read over the missions, nothing even near interesting. Sighing, she noticed that those two hooded figures were still watching her. She reached into her pocket and pulled out the scroll Marquise had given her near three months ago. She had forgotten all about it. Taking some of the empty pins from the board, she walked around the post to the back of the room. After all, the job was three months old, it couldn't be considered new. The figures watched her closely out of the corner of their eyes, they moved as if they were preparing to be attacked, and as she was head for the straight back, there was one to either side of her. She unraveled the scroll and posted it on the board farthest to the back, where there were only two others. These were the hardest of the oldest. She jammed the opened scroll onto the board, and with a sigh of exasperation, she turned on her heel. Laughter echoed suddenly from the right side of the room. Her right eye twitching, she recognized it immediately. It was that old geezer who always told her to stay away from the harder jobs, that she was too week for them. Of course, she always completed them. But the old geezer just had to be here at this precise moment. She turned her head to face him. He was an old human, scars marring his wrinkled face, and leather clothes from the time where his armor was the prime of all adorned him. He sat lazily against one of the posts on the ground, the board above him empty. His body shook with laughter, his lower jaw aching up and down. Everyone in the room seemed to be getting annoyed with him, except D; who stood there watching him with as cool a gaze as ever.

"What I tell 'im? That little demon servant of yours? Well, nothing other than the truth! That you couldn't do the job! But he ignored me as always, the stupid little creature! But was I right? I do believe I was!" _The coot never shuts up, does he?_ D thought inwardly, without any hint of her frustration showing on her face.

"For the last time sir, he's not my servant. Marquise is a friend; nothing more, nothing less. He gets paid to bring me interesting things, whether I do the jobs or not. I got this from him for the information, and it just happens to be useful. I simply got too caught up with things in the Ningenkai and forgot about it for the last three months. I've come to return it so that any hopefuls can be cut down before they try to play with the big kids. After all, the two on that list aren't for beginners." D's voice was cold, and cut through to everyone's thoughts. It was if they were forced to listen for her, and nothing else. The old man scoffed, and D walked out of the tent as quickly as she came.

Leore was a great place for tourists, but D just wasn't one anymore. She walked out of the busy streets of the Underground City into the bustling ones of Tokyo. Finding where she parked her bike, she drove back to her apartment. With the Dark Tournament in two months, she was almost certain Yuusuke would come back to Genkai's for training. And surely, she would have to go do more research on the guy. After all, her research from the last three months only skimmed the surface of what she knew he was really capable of. She was going to put him through hell on Wednesdays, like Genkai would do the rest of the days of the week. Now this was going to be truly, truly fun.


	4. With Red and Gold

**Hey, Doily Rox here! You guys can call me Dr., okay? Well, since I haven't added an intro too any of the chapters before, I decided it was time to explain a couple things. First of all, D isn't going to kill Kurama or Hiei, sillies, but she would like to study them for her research. You'll find out what that is when Koenma explains it to the Spirit Detectives. Second, I'll use Japanese subtitles when she's speaking Japanese, but other than that, I find that putting in all Japanese sentences and stuff is extremely confusing to some viewers. Last but not least, D has a habit of leaving rooms quickly, has since she was a child, it's not out of fear or anything. Please, enjoy the chapie!**

**DISCLAIMER: I OWN NOTHING BUT MY OC'S AND MY PLOT! IF I DID OWN YYH, MY SISTER WOULD CHAIN KURAMA, YUUSUKE, AND HIEI TO HER WALLS IN HER DUNGEON!(those poor souls…)**

**P.S., thanks to Death101 for reviewing, it does mean a lot. Pronunciations will be at the bottom of the chappie. Sincerely, Dr.**

D headed to Genkai's the very next day. Her bike, the poor thing, was starting to gather dirt stains over the silver paint job, so before she headed out, she went to get it cleaned off. It didn't cost much, but since it was going to take awhile, she decided that she should throw Yukimura for a loop and show up on a Monday, instead of the usual Wednesday. If she figured correctly, she would need a little more sushi than normal. After all, if Yuusuke was a Spirit Detective than wouldn't he stay at Genkai's for awhile? At least for training, she figured. As she walked the couple blocks to the Yukimura shop, she felt a smile coming to her face. Yukimura had declared her one of his regulars the last time she came by, so she pondered if she would have the same seat as usual. A grin made its way to her face when she remembered the incident just a little over two months ago.

_D was sitting in her usual seat, with her usual ramen, and usual take-out sushi. The fourth to last on the right of the bar had been her seat for all of her previous visits. She was enjoying her ramen, sucking it down quickly without slurping when a rather obnoxious looking American(she could tell by the way he held himself and how he looked at others) with curly blond hair and blue eyes walked through the door, his little posse following him. Yukimura said his usual Good Morning to the guy as he did with all the customers, and the snob of a seeming 16 year old glanced over the bar seats. D was the only one sitting there at the time, and her seat being near the middle, he didn't like it. Needless to say, he made that point obvious._

"_Ewww, what is that wretched awful smell? Boy, you need to move now, these seats are now ours. The bar seats in this restaurant now belong to me, Rick-sama!" He did a rather flashy move with his hand as he pointed himself out, and the rather built group of boys behind him made him look rather weak, but then again, they were on his side. Staying focused on her meal, or so she tried to appear, she ignored the group of annoyances. He cleared his throat with a rather loud coughing gesture._

"_I said," he held out his arm again, "these seats now belong to me, Rick-SAMA!" __Now THAT'S just going to get annoying. Better acknowledge him before I have to put him in his place,__ D thought near sadistically. People were starting to whisper, and just when Yukimura was about to open his mouth to send the boy away, the clatter of chopsticks against china was heard. All eyes turned from the group of thugs to D. Almost on cue, she heard footsteps coming down from the stairs that led up to Yukimura's living area above the shop. But ignoring the seemingly distant nuisance, D picked up her chopsticks and put them in her mouth, letting them hang loose there. She picked up her bowl and with a polite sense about her, spoke few words to Yukimura._

"_Yukimura-san, I would like seconds please." She held out the bowl for him to take. He looked her in the eyes, hesitance showing clearly through his own. But seeing the harsh reality in her stare, he took her bowl and started making another batch of ramen. As if something had snapped with the boy, he slammed his right hand down on the bar, making the chopsticks and such clatter slightly_

"_Now listen here you!" Her eyes turned to him at the demand, her calm expression taking hold of her. "Get up and move to another seat, or else!" The boy, Rick she hardly recalled, yelled at her. The boys behind him cracked their knuckles and started to smile their almost bloodthirsty smiles. Almost bloodthirsty. She turned her slouching body toward him, the expression on her face held no menace, but her eyes spoke wonders. He near gulped at seeing the heartless dark blue storm stare at him so challengingly._

"_Sorry," she started, and a couple of the faces in the restaurant relaxed, "but I don't seem to know you. Who are you, precisely, to be threatening me?" The relaxing didn't last for long. The stairs to D's back creaked. The princes face went red with anger._

"_I said-"_

"_/I know whatcha' said yuh stupid twerp, I wunnah know whatchur gunnah do 'bout me bein' in mah regular seat?/" She practically spat at the kid, in English, which she was positive the boy could understand because of his accent. At this, his face went near purple, and a couple of veins began twitching. He snapped his fingers over his shoulder, and his face went completely neutral. Then a smirk saw through._

"_Boys? Why don't we show our guests what we're made of?" He commented lightly. The guys started to circle around D, pulling back their steroid like fists for the first strike. D smirked lightly, just what she needed to get some tension out._

"_Don't worry, I'll take it outside." She said to the shocked shop owner, her chopsticks flopping in her mouth. She once again turned in her seat, so her back was to the bar. Without warning, the first punch flew._

After that, she had been welcome in the shop ever sense, and the seat was practically dubbed hers for good. She had become friends with Keiko, Yukimura's daughter. A brown eyed brunette that needed to be a little less stressed over school. D gave her some tips on things here and there, and soon the girl even let D help her with her homework now and then. Things were awesome when it came to her relationship with the shop-owning family. So walking in, she took her seat at the bar, and smiled at Mrs. Yukimura.

"How have things been going, have you been taking it easy?" D asked the mistress of the shop kindly. The woman smiled and waved a hand as if to signify her health shouldn't be the first thing they talked about.

"I've been doing fine, thank you. Your here on a Monday, that's unusual, I take it it's the regular?" Mrs. Yukimura asked kindly, already near done with the ramen.

D nodded, "Yes please, may I have a little extra sushi today, though? My friend has been a little hungrier than usual lately." The woman nodded her head and took off back to work. Eating up her ramen, she grabbed the box of sushi and paid quickly. She left more money than before; after all, the sushi had been extra. She left quickly and picked up her almost-new looking motorcycle and headed for Genkai's. The road was quick enough, but as soon as she hit the stairs she regretted her decision to come today immediately. Those terrible, wretched, evil, vile stairs were killing her after the tenth step. But still the same, she pushed forward, and after too long, reached the top. Seriously, she was going to have an escalator installed where these things were. She sulked over to the entrance, dragging her feet. It seemed like she was crossing a dessert. But alas, half-way through the dunes of Genkai, the main entrance slammed open, revealing Yuusuke Urameshi, spirit detective.

"OI! How slow are you?! Get in here!"

--- --- ---With Yuusuke, from when D arrived at the steps

Blistering heat, sweat and dirt and the screaming of Grandma. This was what it was like for Yuusuke Urameshi, spirit detective, future fighter in the Dark Tournament, dimwit. He was near dead by the time he saw Genkai stop in mid-nag and look to the entrance of the temple. They were in the training yard, a wide open area with green grass and trees surrounding it. Besides to the North side that was, it's the side of the temple.

"D's here, dimwit. Go see what he needs." Genkai commanded like the army general he knew she was. He entered the temple, and found his way to the entrance quickly enough. He took the time to calm himself, re-catch his breath and energy. He then threw back the door, and hardly surprised himself with what he saw. There stood D, looking like he always did after climbing Genkai's stairs.

"OI! How slow are you?! Get in here!" The tired guy twitched visibly, and for the first time ever, Yuusuke thought D lost his cool.

----- -----D's PoV

D twitched, and her lips drew into a scowl. But regaining her cool, she walked over to the entrance and sent Yuusuke a warning look as she approached. He smirked, the taunting idiot, and leaned into the doorway to block her path.

"Wha'cha here for this time?" He asked, an eyebrow rose at D's tiredness.

"You're entering the Tournament right? I've already got tickets, and I've heard about you and Toguro. You do know you're lucky that you lived, right?" D answered, her face already calm again. Yuusuke inwardly sighed, he was hoping for some sort of reaction from the scientist. But then again, he never got one before.

"Yeah, we're bein' forced. Not that I don't want to fight him again, next time he's goin' down." Yuusuke sounded confident, to D's slight surprise.

"You gonna be studyin' the others too?" Yuusuke eyed her, already knowing the answer.

"Depends if they prove interesting or not." She stepped over his form into the cool temple, while shoving the box of sushi in his hands. _Well that's a yes,_ Yuusuke thought, rolling his eyes. Turning around, he saw D was already halfway down the hall. Sweatdropping at the mercenary's silent movement, he caught up quickly while stuffing his face with the sushi.

"Right now we have Kurama, Kuwabara, Hiei and me on the team, we need a fifth." He sounded confident he was going to find one, not to mention like he was talking with his mouthful.

"Really? Why don't you ask Genkai?" D suggested as she briskly walked, ignoring the grotesque sounds he made while eating.

"Did, still am. She'll give in eventually." He sounded confident in that too. Rolling her eyes, D found the training ground easy enough. Genkai stood there, as if focusing her energy. Her eyes were closed, and her pink hair started to float slightly as a light blue aura started to surround her. Her eyes widening, D tried to take in everything about Genkai. But only when Yuusuke stepped into view did she stop. Well, it's not that she stopped, just released the attack onto his pour soul. D jumped back, being sure to save herself. He flew backwards, completely unexpecting to something of that nature. He crashed into the next wall after the one behind him broke and let him through. Laughing silently to herself, she knew this was going to be fun.

For the next two months D would not only come by on Wednesdays, but Mondays and Fridays too. Her information on Yuusuke's abilities at least tripled. Not to mention, Genkai sometimes let her help attack him in the middle of the night, so he was constantly on guard. This, she would get a crack out of. The poor guy ate only one meal a day, the rest was spent training. So instead of just Wednesdays heading out for the Yukimura's, she now went everyday she wanted to go to Genkai's. After Yuusuke was done for the day, and went off to bed (usually in a tree, hiding from Genkai), D would sit and have conversations with Genkai, usually on the subject of powers, techniques, the weather, or tea. The two months passed quickly, and all too soon, the day D needed to leave for the tournament came. She would be taking a cruise ship to Hanging Neck Island, where the tournament was to be held. That, of course, would be taking all of the rich and wealthy of the underground there. She near puked at the thought, be still held it in as she boarded the ship. The crewmen took her bags and lead her to her room. It was nice, but still didn't suite her tastes of 'simple is great'. Nonetheless, she dealt with the tumbling of the ship over the waves, the near constant sound of some poor seasick fellow, and tried to focus on the good things. Like the food, the food was great. Soon enough though (for some, but others seemed to love the journey over the water), they reached the island. It was a beautiful place with trees everywhere, and the sea actually looked calm from the shore. She took a trolley to a hotel, a big, expensive hotel. People everywhere were dressed in garments 'in fashion', and everywhere she glanced people turned their heads to whisper about how she looked, or who she was, and other pointless things like that. It almost ticked her off to hear it, but she stayed as calm as usual, after all, her reputation about having control of her temper wasn't over nothing. She was once again, led to her room.

The door was a shined wood, with a golden knob on the top floor; room 617. Once inside, she tipped the server, and sent him away. Standing there behind the doorway with such an immaculate room near made her cringe. Things were way too organized. The room held shades of gold and red, rich people colors. There was a grand piano to her left, and a glass set of doors that led unto the balcony to her front; to her right, a set of couches with a loveseat and a coffee table on a sunken in floor. There was a door right beyond that, once again, a shined wood. Picking up the bags she brought, she figured that was the bedroom. Opening the door, while trying to manage all her bags at once (quite an impossible feat, she silently wondered at the server boy's skills), she stepped into a magnificent room. There was a bed with see-though gold curtains, to the wall to her left. The mattress looked soft enough, and the bed sheets were a beautiful shade of red, with matching gold rims and designs. The pillows were quite remarkable as well, and the whole room seemed to match well with the bed. In front of her, on the back wall to the left side was another balcony, this one with white curtains and sliding glass doors. To the right of the back wall was an armoire, the same polished wood as the doors and bed frame. On it stood a giant oval mirror, and a small, circular one on a stand. On the right wall there were two doors. Refusing to carry them any longer, she dragged her bags over to the first one. As she opened it, she was welcomed by a walk-in closet. It provided hangers for outfits, and many glass drawers. Deciding she mind as well do it now, she unpacked all her clothes and shoes. It didn't even fill up half the closet. Dumping her two empty bags under one of the empty spaces, she dragged the last one to the bathroom, which was the other door. As she walked in, she was shocked into so much silence, her brain wouldn't work for a few seconds. The bathroom was roomier than any other she'd ever seen. To her left were the sinks with golden handles and one long, tall piece of mirror stretching across all of them. The counter was empty, save for a bar of soap on each sink. Ahead of her (maybe 15 feet) was a giant bathtub. It looked as if it could fit six, and even had jets built in. To her right, in the far back was a tall linens rack, made of wood, and had a couple of drawers in it. The towels were a mixture of white, gold, and red, with a couple of solid colors here and there. Mostly they played designs on each other, though. To her right, closer to her, was a translucent glass shower. She already bet that she would be using that most of the time. Setting her bathroom needs on the counter and in the drawers in the linens rack, she pushed the other bag under the counter and headed back into her bedroom. She looked longingly at the bed, but knew better than leaving her main door unlocked. As she headed into the main room, she went straight to the door and locked it. She then walked over to the balcony and locked that, too. Stalking back into her bedroom, she headed straight to the other balcony door, and locked the last entrance into her room. Sighing contently, she drew back the string holding back the white curtains, and watched them fall.

Content that no one could see her, she tossed off her trench coat. It landed on the floor behind her with a slight thud. On her now was a black beater shirt, with heavy, baggy black pants, socks, shoes, and bandana (all of which happened to be black. The color stood out only in slight difference with her tan skin. Her feminine body was obvious now, with her curved shoulders and long neck. She then removed her bandana, letting her brown hair fall down. It was messy and ruined, but she hardly cared, because at its longest point it reached her shoulders. Running a hand through it with a sigh, she focused on the hardest part. Unwrapping those wretched bandages that held back her chest to make her seem more male. Pulling her shirt over her head, she began her work. It was rather annoying, having to do this every day, but she had gotten used to the feeling of them on, and she felt bare without them now. Once she was done, she tossed back on her shirt and walked into her closet. There she found a pair of purple sleeping pants with bears on them. She was about to put them on when she remembered her shoes. Taking off the tennis shoes and socks, she quickly changed. Remembering to turn off the closet light, she pounced on the new bed. It was the softest she had ever felt. Untying the gold curtains, she crawled under the soft covers, and fell into one of the best sleeps she's had in awhile.

**Good job! You made it through the chapie! As promised, here are all the pronunciations so far:**

**Marquise (Marr-keyz)-the helper of D, Orea demon**

**Leore (Lee-or)- city of the underground**

**Orea (Or-ay-uh)-demons like Marquise and Shiruque, their breed is the founders of Leore, hince the reason the 'ore' in both of them is pronounced the same**

**Shiruque (Shee-rook)- Orea helper at the ticket booth, you'll see more of her later**

**If you have any questions or comments, please ask! I would be happy to be of service for my readers! Thank you again for reading!**

**Sincerely, Dr.**

**P.S. Thanks to my wonderful, immaculate, intelligent, intuitive, interesting, loveable, kind, sweet, adorable, older, prettier, beautiful, gifted, blessed, sister. (kind of funny how when I wrote the chapie, those weren't there, but when my sister got done beta-ing it, these magical words popped up, huh?)**


	5. The Secret Revealed: Mr Pacifier

**Hello Again, my lovelies. The Dr. is in the building with her latest chapter! I hope you enjoy, there's quite a bit of humor in this one, so I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. Well, writing it twice, I got completely done with the near 7000 word chapter when my editor (sister) reminded me about something I missed. So I had to go all the way back to about 1/3 into the chapter and retype the rest. Oh well, what's done is done. Even though it did cause a delay, which I'm sorry for. Next chapter should be up Fri. or Sat., depends on my schedule. See you then!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own yyh; the tortures mentioned in the previous chapter would really happen if I did. Those poor, poor souls…**

Hamburgers and Speghettios, those were the last of her fleeting dream from her first night in the hotel. She woke to the sound of knocking, very rapid, annoying knocking. Shifting her covers away from her form, she scrambled through the bed curtains to her door. Her mind was blank from the drowsiness, and the only thing she knew for certain was that whoever was at her door was making an unnecessary amount of racket. She slipped around her door and across the floor sleepily. She reached for the handle to the main door and turned slowly, unlocking it as she did so. Pulling back the door, she looked through her matted hair at the person she recently thought so little of. He didn't have to say anything, his hanging jaw and wide eyes would've made an excellent picture. And they say pictures are worth a thousand words. Horrified, she slammed the door shut in his face. The only thought possible right now was running through her head at the fastest pace possible.

_CRAP!_

_----- _Koenma's PoV from earlier that morning

He had gotten up early for a reason that morning; he had to get to the dock to greet Yuusuke's ship. Rather, to see if they survived the trial on his ship. He had taken a portal to the hotel yesterday night, arriving before D did. He knew that because he checked the sign in list. Morning had been a blast, he had walked out on is balcony (in his teenage form) to see a wonderful view and great breeze. His was on the top floor, which was reserved for the most honored guests or just highest paying. They were typically one in the same. His room was 603, sixth floor, third room. There were twenty rooms on the floor; he had checked that earlier, too. In fact, there was little he didn't check, being the exceeding man he thought he was. Even when he went down for dinner later he had asked if anyone noteworthy had checked in while he was in his room. The clerk said that quite a few did, and gave him a list. Scanning for a couple of names, he found D's, and decided that he was going to pay a visit in the morning. After all, they were practically working with each other now, so he might as well. And so he did. But he Never, Ever imagined what this would bring him too. Not even as he stood in front of the door, banging only slightly on the door because of the length of time he had been knocking. When he heard a click of the lock being unlatched and the turn of the handle, not even then did the thought cross his mind.

There he was. Well, at least now the he was a she. But one can't just switch genders overnight, can they? He had to be a guy. But scanning over the, well, feminine body in front of him, he had little doubt in his mind that this was a woman. With rather matted brown hair on her head and dark blue eyes that held the sleepiness of the night, he just realized the rather girly face the prior boy had. She was wearing a black beater, obviously with nothing under it, and purple pajama pants with bears printed on them hanging off one side of her hip, revealing a corner of her underwear. Her feet were bare, and her arms were rather tanned. He blinked, as all was absorbed in under a second. Then the door shut. Right in his face. He blinked again before a blush finally came upon his cheeks, and he shut his mouth, when he noticed he was gaping. He opened his mouth again, at a loss of words, and then closed it. Turning on his heel, he walked away. He would Never tell Anyone of that. He not only feared for his life, but he was sure every time D walked by, he would now instantly recognize the He as a She.

_How're we supposed to work together now?_

----- D's PoV

The only words that remained in her head after D had calmed down were simple: _How the hell was I such an idiot as to be seen like that so easily?_ But the answer was simple, she was tired; and having suffered worse from her lack of sleep, she forgave herself. In the end she started to get dressed for the day after she hopped out of the shower. She would just have to explain to him that if he told a single soul about it, that his death would be a truly tragic accident. After all, respect was very important to her. If people respected women fighters as much as they did men in Japan, or even America, she would never have even thought about ever wearing a trench coat. They didn't exactly suit her tastes, you know. Even a leather one with thousands of pockets of all sizes. The stupid thing was weighted, and it annoyed her to no end that she'd always have to take it off to fight someone on her level. But this was this and that was that, and soon her thoughts were focused on other problems. Like getting down in time for Yuusuke's boat to arrive; she wanted to meet Yuusuke's fifth team mate. Not to mention check out the matches and mark down which ones seemed interesting. There were weaklings, and there were strong ones; fighters, that is. Though she highly doubted many of them could hold a fist to her (without her shoving it in their face), she didn't want to watch the weaklings. _But alas,_ she sighed and joked mentally, _Koenma comes first._ With a resigned look of calm, she walked down to the elevator, fully dressed in her usual coat and baggy pants. Her shirt was hidden like usual, and she decided on her more comfortable black sneakers. The elevator was empty; though the dainty music was making her wonder what kind of place the makers wanted her to think the island was. Heading to the lobby, the cafeteria was on the same level, the elevator stopped and opened, allowing her to step out.

Without more than a glance about the lobby, she found who she was looking for. The prince was once more in his teenage form and was talking to two very rich and important looking people. Silently, she walked around a corner to her right and down the hallway to the cafeteria. On the way, she pulled out an old trick she had been working on. She gathered her focus while closing her eyes, and sent it out in all directions, allowing it to see for her. She found what she was looking for, a lamp maybe seven feet away from the prince to his right. She examined the vibrations coming in and off of the lamps bulb; they were slower than some of the things she could match. Deciding that this was the best way to get his attention, she sent her energy into the bulb, and all of the sudden, the bulbs light doubled before completely going out. Well, more like bursting into a thousand glass bits and gaining the attention of everyone in the room, but all to the same effect, the light went out. She opened her eyes, already feeling the eyes of someone else etch into her back. She kept walking, the lights on the hallways seemed slightly dimmer, and soon she was certain she had the prince on her trail. Walking through the open doors into the cafeteria, the room hardly struck her as anything less than elegant. There were tables for parties up to eight, and small as one, each with glasses filled with water and a menu in each spot. Heading over to a two seat table at the far right wall, she took the seat facing the door, and waited on her company to find and accompany her in her meal. Soon he came, and fully scowled at her as he sat down. This made her smirk, after all, with the pacifier in his mouth he didn't look as intimidating as he was trying to be. His eyes slightly narrowed at the look of amusement on her face.

"What did you do that for?" He asked, the slight anger in his tone was controlled very well for a prince.

"To get your attention." Her answer hardly elaborated the reasons, and with a sigh of defeat, Koenma pushed away the conflict. Now, he had to focus on the main issue, his life.

"About this morning…" His eyes were drawn to the table in a downward look as his sentence died off. She blinked, and had to resist a chuckle.

"Oh well, now that doesn't sound dirty." Her playful response made him look up in shock, was she brushing it off? After all that thought he had put into what else he wanted to do with his life, she was Brushing It Off?

"D-san, I really don't think now's the time to be joking. We are at the Dark Tournament, if that got out now-"

"It won't get out. Will it?" Her question was more of a harsh demand as she skimmed over the menu in front of her. Once again, he was stunned. All she wanted was to keep it a secret? He could do that, not even George would know.

"Not at all, I've already forgotten what we were talking about. Perhaps breakfast? I'm thinking about an omelet." He said near jokingly, and skimmed over the menu himself. Truthfully, an omelet did sound the most appetizing right now.

"Hmm, I think I'll get waffles." He had to hold back a laugh, when was the last time she had an American breakfast, five…six months ago? _Speaking of which,_ he thought suddenly.

"How has Yuusuke been, you've seen him more than I have in the past two months. How much has he improved?" The topic was funny to D, or at least a little amusing, as a smile was actually brought to her face.

"Great last I checked. He's done wanders for my research, and his spirit abilities, they've improved so much!" Koenma felt it was his time to smile now, after all, Yuusuke needed to be strong to win this Tournament. The waiter came by and asked for their orders while handing them cups of cranberry juice, and while D gave him the orders, he noticed something. Her chest was smaller…. Perhaps she bound it? Feeling as though this wasn't the greatest topic to breech, he looked away just in time to catch her eye and start a new conversation.

"And how's that going, your research, that is?" She raised an eyebrow; did he seriously think she didn't catch him staring at her chest?

"Well shouldn't you know, you were one of the closest to that light bulb weren't you?" His eyes widened dramatically.

"You mean..." She nodded. His eyebrows shot up. "That's great! It's wonderful you've come so far in such a short time! You've only been with us, what, eight months? Not even a year!" Her smile was almost sad, but as the waiter came back with their food, she focused her attention on it. Seeing this, he lightened up his mood a bit.

"How soon do you think you'll be done?" His omelet has pretty good, it had bacon, peppers and onion.

"Truth be told Koenma, I don't know. Hopefully this place will give me some sort of advance, or leap. I'm running behind. But progress is progress, though I still want this to be done in two years, the goal is getting to close for comfort." Her tone was even more downcast as she ate her waffles, which had been smothered in syrup.

"You have as long as you need, don't try to rush things. Like you said, progress is progress. You'll finish it, I know you will." He was trying to comfort her as he spoke in a soft voice, though he could see it was having little effect. So he tried a funnier approach.

"Not like you couldn't, being near Yuusuke and all. Besides, I'm sure as soon as you meet the others, by that I mean Kuwabara, Kurama, and Hiei, you'll get ahead again. One can't stay in a room all day doing work with them around; they have a habit of grabbing your attention. You'll see." She gave him another pathetic smile before getting rid of any emotion on her features.

"I sure hope so Koenma, I really do."

*Poof*

"So THIS is the guy with the fire stick!"

D's eye twitched involuntarily.

"Marquise…." D's voice was deadly as the fork she was holding began to bend in her grasp.

"Oops! Wrong time eh? Did I interrupt anything?" She could tell he was smiling by his voice.

"Who are you?" Koenma looked confused.

"An Idiot." Was D's response as she dropped the fork she was holding, unable to use it anymore.

"Well, if you knew my name, it could prove potentially dangerous. So you can call me-"

"Marquise you said?" Koenma turned his head to D, seeing that he would get a straighter answer from her.

"Hey! You don't just go an start a new conversation up like that when someone's talki-"

"Idiot will do for him." D's response was straight forward.

"Hey!"

"Oh, alright, I guess that'll do."

"But!"

"Hey is for horses."

"I just said-"

"Yeah, you were describing yourself pretty well just then weren't you?"

Koenma chuckled, this was getting quite funny. Marquise looked relatively angry at being outwitted, but D was smirking, so Marquise didn't take the comebacks to heart. He hated seeing her sad was all, so he got her angry instead. Seemed to work out pretty fine; also gave him quite a show, and a number of souvenirs. They were the things that D broke when she talked to him, like the fork beside her plate. He'd be taking that soon. He pulled off the scroll strapped to his back and handed it to D.

"Got some news, I do. Thought you might like it, seeing as how you much enjoy their company more than mine. 'Bout that group you were lookin' into. The spirit detectives or somthin'?" She unrolled the scroll and read it silently to herself. Koenma raised an eyebrow, 'looking into'? When D's eyebrows shot up in a look of surprise, he took it as a good sign. He also tried to ignore the fact that the little red demon in front of him was examining the bent fork beside D's plate in a very odd manner.

"What does it say?" He asked.

D shrugged, "Just that the first match starts in an hour. I better go if I want to beat the crowd." With that she stood and handed the scroll back to Marquise before looking to him, "You can go now."

"You're absolutely right. I plan to, but you'll see me around, that you will. I got me a date with a pretty girl to this tournament!" At that, both Koenma and D raised an eyebrow.

"YOU got a date?" Koenma asked, slightly suspicious of the Orea's motives.

"Yeah, **I** got a date. Too much for you to say though, ain't it?" Marquise snapped at Koenma, before swooping down to take the fork from D's plate. "Well, I got to be on my way. I'll see you later, mistress, maybe I'll introduce you to muh girl." D nodded to that, eager for the demon to leave, which with a poof, he did.

"Interesting character, though what did he mean by fire stick?" Koenma asked D with curiosity, he was a little shocked at first when Marquise "poof"ed in, but the guy had a certain aura about him that made you want to trust him. D shook her head.

"Don't worry about it. You might want to head out to, seeing as you probably have a VIP seat as well." Koenma nodded, not bothering to ask how she got a hold of a VIP ticket. There was a reason why she was allowed to do separate jobs, instead of just working for him. Inwardly sighing, he got up and put the money on the table for the meal.

"Nice talking with you." He said politely and nodded to her.

"Not a problem, we should do it again sometime." She paused, cocked her head to the side, the chuckled almost playfully. "Now THAT sounded dirty." With that, she walked off, leaving Koenma to cover to tip, too. He shook his head, what was wrong with that girl?_ Oh, wait, boy._

----- D, only minutes later

D trudged through the hoards of demons in the stadium. Her seats were at the very top, box seats. Though that didn't help her at all at this moment. Frowning inwardly, she figured she'd have to come two hours early for the match instead of one. Then she could beat the crowd, and enjoy breakfast in her box or something. Pushing the idiots out of the way (the smart ones recognized her and moved); she climbed to stairs onto the top. Though the elevator would've been faster, she would be crammed in a box with imbeciles of all sorts and sizes, and she knew she couldn't handle that without getting at least a little angry. That meant at least a few heads would become trophies. _As if getting past the entrance wasn't enough,_ she thought as she remembered the sleazy demon who tried to sell her over expensive tickets. Soon enough though, she reached the top floor. Here, all the demons seemed to have disappeared. The walls were wash-white, and the floors tiled, instead of the creepy designs that held depression and angst downstairs. There were doors with numbers on them every ten meters or so. She remembered her number, 713. Walking past 7 or so doors down the curved hallway, she came to her box. Taking out her room card, she slid it in and out of the reader. Putting it back in her pocket, the machine processed the data. With a click, the door unlocked, and she entered quietly. The walls were a smooth forest green, and the chandelier in the center of the ceiling held many crystals and candles in gold cups and chains. The box held a perfect view of the arena, and there was a comfy looking green velvet chair placed right in the center of the glass wall, toward the front of the room. Beside it was a small table covered with a white table cloth, and an empty wine glass sitting on top. Taking a seat in the chair, she sank into the cushions comfortably. Realizing there was a button on the arm of the chair, she pushed it, assuming it summoned a waiter. Not even five seconds later, a tall man with a small mustache in a waiter suit walked in with a bottle of champagne. She could tell all of that from his reflection in the glass wall. He paced over, and poured the alcoholic liquid into the wine glass without question. Putting the bottle down beside the glass, he opened his small, almost beady eyes.

"Is there anything you want sir? Perhaps a meal, or something more exquisite?" His hands were placed behind him, though D could see his arms visibly tighten. His expression though, didn't change.

"Nothing right now, I'll call you when I need you." With a yes, sir and a nod, the man left the room. D didn't even bother wondering what the 'something more exquisite' was, she could tell that the man that just entered was a father, and probably a poor, in debt one. Shaking her head at the downright repulsing situation, she watched the screen above the stadium. It held the time for the match, and was counting down from five minutes currently. D near sweatdropped, it took her that long to get past those crowds? Bringing her gaze down to the arena, she watched as the five combatants on each side talked briefly within their own groups. On the side closest to her was the Urameshi team, so she could safely assume that Yuusuke would be fighting soon. Though looking back over at their group, she could clearly see that he was sleeping rather heavily. Figuring that it was from the training, she looked over the other team members. The most normal looking one was obviously a human, with bright orange hair in an Elvis style. She couldn't see his eyes; her seat was too far away, but from his energy, she knew that he was Kuwabara Kazuma. His basic ability was his spirit sword, and his sister was D's hairdresser. All of this, she got from his file, or his sister. After all, when D went on undercover missions, she would need a hairdresser, so Shizuru was very helpful. The next crayon in the box was Kurama, or Minamino Shuuichi. He was the bright, calm one. He used plants for attacks, and was the legendary thief, Youko Kurama. Though his bright red hair stood out sharply, he was tall to boot. Though the same couldn't be said for the last two. One was Jaganshi Hiei, with black, gravity defying hair that held a white starburst patttern. He was a fire and ice apparition, who worked mostly with the fire; his strongest attack is the Kokuryuha, or Dragon of Darkness Flame. The last one, but certainly not the weakest, was small and had bandages wrapped about their face so their identity wouldn't be known. D had a hunch on who it was, but she would see for certain when the masked one fought.

The opposing team was the Rokuyukai team, with six fighters. The two that caught her interest though, were peculiar characters. One had yellow hair and an icy gaze, with one heck of an aura. The other was a kid, wearing a hat and had stars under an eye. The announcer, Koto, either a cat or fox demon who appeared to be around 15, called the teams to the stage. Once the teams decided it was to be a duel, they went back to their original areas. The Kuwabara and the kid, Rinku, read the screen, came to the middle of the arena. The fight was on.

**Thank you again for reading! Im not going to beg, but please review, it does mean a lot to me, and my sister as she does the beta-ing! Thanks again to her, and all the rounds of the first fight plus when D meets the gang are in the next chapter! So it should be SUPER long! But I like long chapters, they're more fun to write! See you next chapter!**


	6. A haircut! Research Complete: 45

**Hello my lovelies!!!!!! Dr. is here to solve all your problems with my WEEK OLD CHAPTER!!! It's a week old because my sister is a pain in the arse and CAN'T EVEN GET UP FOR THIRTY FREAKIN MINUTES TO BETA A CHAPTER BUT ONCE EVERY TWO FREAKIN WEEKS!!!!! I'm if it seems I'm ranting at ya'll (sorry, I'll speak sophisticated, "you-all", it just hit me that not everyone lives in the Southern US and speaks like me), but she really is a loser. She'd probably call me a punk once she reads this. Either way, she left a beta note at the bottom of the chapter just for you all (hahahaha, not ya'll…. Man I'm lame…). But try to ignore my since of stupid humor in this chapter, I'd like to explain a few things:**

**One: I'm mostly going by the manga, but having both read and watch the entire series much more than twice, I will hold some aspects of the anime, too. One affect of the mange is that Atsuko did in fact go to support Yuusuke at the Tournament, though not in the anime. I'm sorry if it displeases you, but she does add a lot of comical relief, and I love the character for it!**

**Two: D will be fighting in Genkai's place, I'm clearing that up because one of my…*sniff* few…reviewers made a comment about how she's not. Well, I really am sorry, and I know it's really worn out, but she is. That's just for her own ends, though. She ends up scaring Kuwa a bit, man I love his character too! Well….. I love the whole freakin show, okay? Don't make me get you…. I will get you… Either way, how else will she bond with the team, im sorry, but in order for the ending im planning to work out right, they need to be close.**

**Anyway, enough with the ranting! I love you all, my dear readers! See ya!**

**SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS**

D watched anxiously as the match started off with Kuwabara in the lead. His punches were strong, and sent Rinku flying through the air with his hat knocked off. But something was off to D; the kid was stronger than he was trying to make people think he was. Just when Kuwabara was about to land the final blow, Rinku pulled out his Devil yo-yos and lifted Kuwabara high up into the air. D memorized easily the technique Rinku used to control the yo-yos, all he was doing was sending his spirit energy through them. D knew that it was harder than it seemed though, he had to emit the perfect amount of energy into them, and after reading the vibrations coming off of Rinku, she knew he wanted to end the match quickly. After asking what the audience wanted, Rinku decided to drop Kuwabara from his couple hundred feet perch in the air, yo-yos unraveling as they did so. It would turn out to be a big mistake for Rinku, as with his hands free, Kuwabara easily vaulted on his spirit sword over toward Rinku, who was preparing his Serpent yo-yo attack again. At this, Kuwabara's sword did something unexpected; it bent to avoid getting hit by the yo-yo strings. His sword went through Rinku's abdomen just as Rinku's yo-yo connected with Kuwabara's face; both were sent flying out of the arena. Rinku crawled back up first, and just as Kuwabara was about to get back up, Rinku ensnared him one last time with his yo-yos, and Kuwabara was kept out of the ring for the countdown. The victory was given to the Rokuyukai team. D immediately pulled out her notepad and wrote down all she saw, felt, and otherwise. The notepad was near filled to the full by the time she was done, which was only a couple seconds, for she was a fast, sloppy writer. English was scribbled on page after page, and soon she flipped to one of the last empty pages before deciding to just get a new notepad for Hiei, Kurama, and Yuusuke's fights. The rest of the matches went on in the same, shocking manner. With at least half a notepad on the subject of the Kokuryuha itself, she easily went through five by the time all the matches were over. She didn't even wince at Yuusuke's winning headbutt to Chuu that got him the victory. All she did was watch and write, not even looking at the paper as she did so. After the match was over, D decided enough was enough, and that she needed to stop and go back to her apartment. After all, she didn't want a writer's cramp on the second day of the tournament, did she? Besides, she needed a place to pull all the info together, and she thanked her own smart mindedness for remembering her computer.

The halls on the way back were hardly the same, the only people she passed were a few that had needed restrooms or were contestants themselves. It was a much shorter walk back to her room without the crowds. The entire walk back, she seemed in a daze. Idea's swarmed about her head like bees in a hive, having found all the pollen in the world for their honey. Her pace was hasty, and once she got in her room, she headed straight for the computer, drawing out the five or so notepads. It took her at least three hours to get them all down and make sense of them, but she did it. All the info was there, and soon, her research progress had skyrocketed. Without thinking about the locks or anything, she headed straight for her bed and laid her head down, still in the clothes from earlier in the day. Sleep came swiftly, but was all too soon interrupted by knocking once more upon her door. D near growled in anger, why didn't anyone seem to respect a need for a decent amount of sleep these days? Ignoring it, she turned over and fell back asleep, figuring it was housekeeping or something.

D awoke to the sound of laughter fifteen minutes later. Sweatdropping, she recognized the voice. The thing that bugged her though, was that the voice was coming from the main room. Her VIP main room. Eye twitching, she remembered how she had forgotten lock to her doors. Sighing at the irritability of the position she was in, she climbed out of bed and walked over to the entrance to the main room. Taking a minute to adjust her clothes, she then swung open the door. The laughter continued as D counted the number of heads she saw. Five, in total, four were badly injured, including Yuusuke. Recognizing the others as the members of his team, she raised an eyebrow at them as the laughter dyed down. Yuusuke grinned up at D, his limbs bleeding onto her couch. Her VELVET couch. Her eye involuntarily twitched.

"Funny, last I remember, my couches were clean and empty and there weren't five bloody idiots in my room." D's words were drawled, and a throbbing vein popped up on her head.

"Sorry 'bout that! Your door was open, so we helped ourselves. Oh, the service you get in here is amazing compared to the food we get!" Yuusuke continued to grin as if nothing were wrong. All eyes in the room were on her, which included three pairs of brown, one of green, and one of red. D took note of the empty plates on the coffee table.

"So I see…" D sighed in defeat; he probably put it on her tab, too. Closing the door to her bedroom behind her, she took the time to look everyone in the eyes, as her breath was slightly caught as she glanced past the green ones. _They're just like hers…What am I thinking? She's gone, no need to even begin to reminisce!_ Even as her eyes caught the red ones, her thoughts strayed. _He's a fire apparition… but only half. _She added as she caught sight of the white pattern in his hair. She cocked her head to the side, looking back at Yuusuke, "And precisely what do you want of me to intrude so rudely?"

"Just some healin'. I know you're good at it, I wouldn't of survived Grandma's training without it." At that, he lifted his foot to show the cut ankle. It was bandaged decent, but still needed proper healing. "Cut it up pretty good in the fight with Chuu."

"So I saw." D moved over and sat on the coffee table, taking his foot in both hands. Unwrapping the bandages, everyone was silent. D examined the wound; it would take an excessive amount of energy to heal it completely. Grimacing, she gave it to him straight.

"If you'd taken another punch with your foot up against that blade, you wouldn't have been able to walk for the rest of your life." With that, her hands glowed blue, and the wound began to regenerate.

"It's still fixable though, right? Wait, you watched the match?" Yuusuke asked. D nodded.

"I'm only going to partially heal the muscle and tissue though, and probably put some salve on it to help. If you want anything else healed, I can't heal this completely. It would drain me of energy." Yuusuke nodded in understanding, there was still Kuwabara, Kurama, and Hiei to worry about. He was pretty positive the masked fighter could handle himself. "And yes," D added, seeing the look of curiosity cross his face, "I watched your team's fights. You there," D spoke to the masked fighter, who looked back at her in question, "Go get the bandages from the bathroom, right next to the second sink. The salve should be next to the soap on the towel rack." The masked one nodded, and headed into the bathroom for the supplies. Once he came back (even though after getting a close feel for the energy, D knew who it was), D was handed the bandages and salve. Applying the salve sparingly, she wrapped the foot. Glancing Yuusuke over, she stood and tossed the foot down. Which, of course, caused him to yelp in pain.

"What was that for?!"

"Inviting yourself and others, strangers, into my room." Yuusuke all but glared at the scientist. "The rest will heal with sleep." She stood and looked over the others; the human seemed the most in need. Since he sat right in front of Yuusuke, all she did was walk around the coffee table and sat beside him on the couch cross-legged and facing him. Looking a little freaked out, he inched away a bit. Yuusuke laughed at this; after all, D did seem a little creepy right now.

"But hey, I did you a favor. Just imagine what would happen to your poor research if I never even bothered with this competition." Yuusuke said, trying to get a lead on the scientist. D rolled her eyes, knowing he wouldn't have skipped out on the tournament after all the hell Genkai put him through.

"Yeah, you'd be dead by now, wouldn't you?" She placed a hand on Kuwabara's bicep to see if there was any inner damage. Having felt the cool tingle of D's energy start to flow into him, searching for damage, he jerked his arm away hard enough to nearly fall over the edge of the couch, in which he yelped and stood up. Pointing an accusing finger at D, he yelled at her.

"What the hell was that?! What're you, some kind of freak?!" Yuusuke burst into laughter, he was totally expecting that. Annoyance crossed D's face, and she turned to face Yuusuke.

"Are all your friends this idiotic?" She asked him, slightly peeved her subject wouldn't stay still.

"Nope, just him!" He said, bursting into a fit of laughter once more upon seeing the confused look on Kuwabara's face. D nodded, and skimmed the imbecile over; he reminded her greatly of another person from her past, just as the green eyed one, Kurama, did. It annoyed her greatly, and having been woken up by such obnoxious laughter in the first place, she really wasn't in that great of a mood to start with.

"Can't you just sit down, shut up, and stay still so I can heal you?" D asked the human, as a look of revelation crossed his face.

"Oh, you were just trying to heal me?" D nodded, hadn't he been healed by someone before?

"But seeing as you can't stay still, I'll assume everything's fine with your internal organs and such." She glanced over to the Spirit Detective, "But both of you need baths. I could smell you from my room." At this, Yuusuke grinned.

"What's wrong with smelling like a man, Mr. Priss?" Yuusuke chided, pulling out the nickname he had given her the second week of training with Genkai.

"There's nothing wrong with it, it's just the simple fact is that right now, you smell less like a man and more like an ape." _Not that there's much of a difference,_ D thought to herself. Yuusuke shrugged, it didn't matter to him. Then a knock went on the door, and after calling out for whoever it was to come in, she pondered if having all these people over was actually a smart thing to do. Then seeing who it was that came in through the door, she quickly decided that no, it wasn't.

----- With the Spirit Detectives from the start back to the hotel

"So where are we going again?" Kuwabara asked for billionth time in five minutes, or at least, so it seemed.

"I told ya Kuwa, to visit a friend." Yuusuke answered, leading the way through the forest trails back to the hotel.

"We care about this friend of yours why?" Hiei asked impatiently. It was bad enough that his dragon had been released and he was close to the edge of exhaustion, but to be dragged along with the others to find and meet one of the detective's friends? It sounded like a complete waste of his time.

"Who is this person exactly?" Kurama asked Yuusuke, getting the answer to Hiei's question as well.

"His name's D, and from what I've seen, he's pretty good at patching people up. I've had my own fair share of scars cleaned up by 'em during the time I spent with Grandma." Yuusuke continued walking forward.

"So a healer." Hiei put blatantly. Yuusuke chuckled a bit.

"Not really, he's a mercenary of sorts."

"So we know he's here how?" The conversation continued between the fire demon and the detective as Kurama racked his brain, searching for where he had heard the name before.

"Well, I guess he's more of a scientist."

"Make up your mind, detective."

"Eh, all I know is that he wouldn't miss this place for the world." Hiei raised an eyebrow, why would anyone want to come here? Deciding to leave it at that, as he was getting bored, Hiei fell back to where the fox was walking in the back of the cluster. He seemed deep in thought, and Hiei knew why.

_**The name seemed familiar to you too then?**_ Hiei asked Kurama through telepathy.

_Yes, though I can't remember from where._ Kurama responded, still racking his brain. Seeing that he wouldn't get any more information from anyone else, Hiei kept quiet for the rest of the walk to the hotel. Yuusuke crammed them all in an elevator to the top floor after he had checked the list of names and rooms at the front desk. Pressing the button to the top floor, the elevator sped all the way up, and then Yuusuke weaved throughout the hallways searching for the door number his friend was in. Finding it, he knocked on the door, than after waiting a few seconds, knocked again. Finally, after getting no response, he tried the door handle, finding it unlocked. He went into the red and gold room, and plopped down on the couch, as if it was his room all along. Finding a windowsill, Hiei took his seat in it, while the masked fighter and Yuusuke sat on one couch, with Kuwabara on the other, and Kurama on the loveseat. Picking up the phone and looking at the list of numbers on the coffee table, he dialed for room service. They brought up food and drinks for the team, and it was put on Yuusuke's friends tab. Soon one thing led to another, and Yuusuke and Kuwabara were laughing at some joke they made, while Kurama chuckled at it with one hand covering his mouth. Then the door to the side of the room swung open, and everyone but Yuusuke stopped laughing. In the doorway there was a person, presumably D, looking like they had just gotten up from a deep and relaxing sleep. He looked to be male, but the fighters weren't precisely sure, as his outfit covered anything that would give them a clue, his face looked particularly girly, too. Kurama, Hiei, and Kuwabara watched D's movements carefully, as Kuwabara seemed particularly frightened of the guy. It showed clear and through when D tried to heal the human. It seemed as though D was about to set his eyes on the two demons to see if they had any damage done to them, when there came a knock on the door. D called the person to come in, and the door swung open to reveal Koenma. In all his princy (or prissy, as Yuusuke saw it) glory.

----- Everyone's POV

There seemed to be mutual interest throughout the group as to why Koenma had appeared, but all seemed to be normal as it finally clicked in Yuusuke as to who this was.

"Eh? Pacifier Mouth?" Koenma got a vein in his head, then switched his sight to D.

"I was wondering how much progress you made today." D eye's brightened as the information from the day popped into her head.

"Well, seeing as you're the only one who's even seen the technique, I think it would be unfair to give you another sneak peek." D said slyly, knowing she would get away with it, but at the same time, cursing the prince for bringing it up. Yuusuke had been begging forever to see it, and now he would be getting all ruffled up about not seeing it when the Prince did.

"You've seen what his research is about?" Yuusuke asked Koenma, in shock. The rest of the team looked on, each one confused on different levels. Yuusuke blinked, "Hold up. You showed _Him_ before _Me_? When I've made the biggest contribution to your research?!"

D sighed, there was no getting away from this. "You're a lab rat." She told him blatantly, "He pays me."

"So it's all about the money?" Yuusuke asked, pretending to be offended. D shrugged, and using the results of her research notes from their last match, used the vibrating air atoms to ball Yuusuke's hand into a fist, and hit himself in the face. "OW!" He rubbed his now sore cheek, as the rest of the group wondered why he hit himself. "I didn't do that…"

D got up off the couch and picked up the bandages and salve. Tossing them at the fire demon, she explained quickly, "I would put the salve on your arm and bandage it, but I'm lazy and want to take another nap. So you need to do it." She then looked over Kurama, "You'll be fine with a good night's sleep to regain your energy and heal up those cuts on your cheek." She then walked out of her room quickly, and sped down the hallway to the elevator.

"Does he always leave like that?" Yuusuke asked Koenma, assuming the prince had more knowledge about D's habits than he did.

Koenma shrugged, "You've seen him more than me in the past months." He went over and took one side of the empty couch.

Kuwabara decided that it was safe to sit back down, so he did, but not before joining the conversation, "What does he mean by that Urameshi?" It was Yuusuke's turn to shrug.

"D would come over to study how I used spirit energy and stuff like that whenever I was at Grandma's for training and stuff."

Kuwabara blinked; why would a healer want to watch how people use spirit energy? Koenma raised an eyebrow, "So he hasn't told you what his research is yet?"

Kuwabara blinked again; so the healer was a scientist? Yuusuke looked over to Koenma, "You know what his research is? He hasn't let a word get to my ears, even though I'd pester him every day on purpose for him to tell me." Hiei, Kurama, and the masked fighter seemed to pay attention to the conversation now. After all, if they were being watched, they'd like to know what for.

"Well, if he hasn't told you…" Koenma glanced at the open door, as if on que, Kuwabara got up and shut it. Koenma nodded, as if reassuring himself, "It's all about vibrations, really." Kurama furrowed his eyebrows, if that D person was researching vibrations, while appearing to study spirit energy, then… it clicked. His eyes widened at the possibilities of what would happen should such a person perfect that technique. But it would require a genius to even learn about such complicated methods of probability and interference, and much more of someone trying to create the methods themselves. Glancing over, Kurama saw that Hiei and the masked fighter got it too, but all the same, Yuusuke and Kuwabara didn't.

"I don't get it, why would someone want to know about vibrations?" Kuwabara voiced his and Yuusuke's question.

"Are you a complete fool? The answer is quite obvious to anyone with half a brain." Hiei snapped at the asker of the question.

"What did you say midget?!"

"Seems like the fool doesn't have half an ear either."

"Both of you stop, I'll explain it." Koenma snapped at the two, as if he were chiding children for starting a mud fight. They quieted down only because they had to. Sighing, Koenma started to explain, "Vibrations come off everything, Kuwabara. Sound itself is vibrations."

"Well duh, I know that." Glaring at him for interrupting, Koenma continued.

"I mean everything, even spirit energy, even people. By studying the frequencies and wavelengths of different amounts of energy, one could mimic it. Like in an attack of any kind, a special technique that is supposedly only available to certain types of people, one could mimic it perfectly; maybe even improve it, if someone's memorized the vibrations for such a technique. The same for someone's moods and such, a person's aura changes with their mood, by studying people's aura's when they are in different moods, one could mimic that person's mood to a T. But, just as someone could control a technique they've copied, one could control the mood of people once the vibrations coming off of the aura are properly memorized. There are hardly any boundaries that this technique has, and as far as I've seen, the only downside of having a person on your side that could do all this is that it takes years to study, and to accurately judge data. That's why," Koenma looked to Yuusuke, "he has near free reign to do as he wants. Because if he could complete this technique for the Spirit World, imagine how powerful a handful of people who could do this would be. Imagine an army. No one would ever doubt the power of the Spirit World ever again. That's why he doesn't tell anyone, and that's why it's such a big secret. Because if it got out, just try to envision the number of demons that would riot when they heard that the Spirit World was going to have this power. Imagine the number of humans and demons alike that would want the power themselves." Kuwabara gulped, he had No Idea… Yuusuke seemed to get over the shock relatively quickly; he had figured it was something that important. D was a tightwad to him anyway, and Yuusuke really thought he needed to loosen up. But the research did explain a lot though, especially his fist that was thrown at his own face when he didn't want it to. Yuusuke sighed, not liking the depressing air.

"And the tightwad's how old to be working on this? Our age? He doesn't seem too much older."

Koenma looked at him as if he were an idiot, "He's a prodigy when it comes to stuff like that, since he's only 18." Yuusuke's eyes went wide, as a mutual shock went around the group in the room.

"WHAT?!?! I thought he was around our age, like, 15!" Yuusuke yelled in shock.

"He didn't tell you anything, did he?" Koenma asked, secretly amused that his Spirit Detective was this ignorant.

"Apparently not." Hiei's voice finally came into the conversation, which the masked fighter seemed to be keeping out of. Even Kurama was curious about the scientist.

"Prodigy? Are you positive of that Koenma, or is it just a title for show?"

Koenma almost seemed to gulp, now he was getting in over his head. "I'd tell you what he did at the age of thirteen to get that title, but I do believe that he would kill me."

"Whys'zat?" Yuusuke asked.

"Because he would get a lot of unwanted publicity should it come out. There's a reason he goes by an alias, you know." Koenma explained.

"Alias? Man, and here I was thinkin' it was his real name." Everyone, even the masked fighter sweatdropped on that one.

"Ah well, I've got to go now. See you guys around!" With that Koenma got up to leave. But just when he got to the door, Yuusuke called out one last question.

"Is the he a she?" Koenma, with his back turned, tried to keep a straight face. He shrugged.

"You should find that out yourself." Then he left the room, laughing all the way down the hallway. Shrugging, Yuusuke got up and stretched, then leaned on his cut foot, trying it out. Satisfied that it didn't hurt, Yuusuke headed for the door.

"Come on guys, we better get a good night's sleep for tomorrow." Some nodding and some following silently, they all left the room for their own.

----- With D

D had gone out to get some dinner in the lobby herself before heading up to her room. While in the elevator, she sneezed at least 6 different times. Cursing mentally, she decided to get a good nights' sleep before watching the matches tomorrow, not to mention find that idiot who was talking about her. But she couldn't help but smile to herself when she saw that they had taken the bandages and salve with them.

The next day, she didn't bother with the tournament at all. After going over the information the thousandth time, she figured out at least 100 different possibilities for the data. Making a list of them, she figured it would take about 2 days to try them all. _That way,_ she though happily, _I can catch the semi-finals._ She exited her room early that day, her hair still sopping from her shower. It looked like a dark brown when wet, and got a little wavy, too. She decided that she needed a haircut, _But unfortunately, Shizuru-sans not here…_ She blinked; _hold up, this is the perfect opportunity! Besides, I don't know for a fact that she isn't, after all, her brother is competing!_ Deciding to try out one of the possibilities right now, she sent her energy out to search for other human auras in the area. There were three, and one non-human presence near them, in the same room of the hotel. Starting vibrations with her energy inside the room, causing waves of air atoms to flow throughout the room; she saw where they bounced off and where they were absorbed or reflected. This allowed her to have a clear perception of what and where people or things were. Though the image was still fuzzy in her head, she easily recognized three of the four faces in the room. Two were human, Kuwabara Shizuru, as D had presumed, and Yukimura Keiko, daughter of the owner of the Yukimura shop. D knew both pretty well, and the last, Botan, was someone D knew she had to get closer to. Deciding now was better than never, she headed down to their room, dressed in her usual clothes, minus the bandana, which was tucked into the back pocket of her pants. Checking her reflection in the glass mirror of the elevator, she frowned at the feminine qualities of her face. She pulled her hair back, trying to imagine what it would look like with short hair, probably a boyish cut. Tilting her head, she couldn't imagine it. Dropping her hair as the elevator opened on the third floor, D stepped out. She walked to the girl's room, and lifted her hand to knock, surprising herself at the simplicity of it. After all, it had been at least six months sense she actually lifted her hand to knock on a door and it wasn't opened right in her face. She waited a bit, then dropped her hand as the door knob twisted.

The door opened to reveal Shizuru, a mid twenties woman with long brown hair and calm brown eyes. The cigarette, as usual, hung lit in her mouth. "D? What're you doing here?"

"Eh? D-san's here?" That was Botan; it'd been a long time since D had heard her voice.

"What? How do you two know D?" That was Keiko.

"Actually, I'm here for a haircut, I'd sensed your presence in the building Shizuru-san, so I'd thought, well, better sooner than later." Shizuru raised an eyebrow at D's explanation.

"I'd always known you were into the black market and stuff, but I had no idea you knew about this place." D shrugged.

"The same could be said for you. Better yet, Keiko-san as well." D said as she came in through the door, Shizuru had let her through and shut the door behind her. There was one person in the room that she didn't recognize, a human, with black hair and eyes, who reminded D of Yuusuke in a way. Keiko and Botan's eyes seemed to widen at D's appearance, they had thought the she was a he. Snapping out of it, Botan explained their purpose of being here.

"Well, you see D-san…" Botan felt it would be odd to call D either '-chan' or '-san', for she now had no clue what D wanted to be called, "I'm here because being Koenma's ferry girl and all, I need to be, but I invited a couple people along, as you know, this is Shizuru and Keiko, but this is Atsuko, Yuusuke's mom." D eyes widened slightly before she nodded in understanding, then she looked to Keiko.

"But why are you here?" Keiko felt a little embarrassed; the reason was a bit complicated to her. Botan cleaned it up though.

"She's Yuusuke's girlfriend!" Keiko went red.

"I am NOT! Were just childhood friends!" This caused D to scoff.

"That's what they all say." Botan grinned; happy D was helping her tease the young human.

"You wanted a haircut, right?" Shizuru seemed to magically appear from a doorway to the room's right with a pair of scissors, a comb, and a mirror in hand.

"Yes, please."

"How short?" Shizuru asked as she sat down on a pillow and patted an empty spot in front of her. D came and sat down.

"Short as a guy would have his hair." This seemed to shock all the girls in the room.

Shizuru seemed to recover herself first, "Okay." The comb felt good to D on her wet scalp. Botan was astonished.

"But why do you want to look like a guy?!" D raised an eyebrow at the seemingly innocent question.

"Because they get more respect." It dawned on all the girls in that room that D was just as prideful as any guy, and as such, had a reputation to withhold. "By the way, I've heard of you Atsuko-san. You're a big party person, right?" Atsuko grinned.

"Sure am!" D smiled at the older lady.

"Perhaps we should go out for a drink sometime." This caused the lady to grin bigger, and chunks of hair fell off of D's head.

"I'd love to." The conversation went from topic to topic after that, and D for once, actually felt like she was welcome by the girls in the room. That didn't happen often to a mercenary of the black market. As Shizuru finished her job, D stood and felt the weight difference on her head. She ran a hand through her hair, and watched as Botan's eyes widened at the finished product. Catching this, D was curious as to why.

"What? Did I grow a second head?" She looked from shoulder to shoulder, as if searching for one, Atsuko giggled, for she saw the reason why Botan stared. Keiko transferred her gaze to D, where her eyes couldn't tear away either.

"Hahaha! You really do look like a dude!" Atsuko blurted out, not able to hold back any longer. Botan and Keiko nodded, unable to say anything.

"Let me have a look." Shizuru pointed to the bathroom, happy with her work. D let her overcoat slide off of her as she walked to the bathroom. The stares kept coming. Finally, she got to the bathroom and turned the lights on, her eyes caught sight of one of the weirdest things she ever saw. She was… a guy? A relatively good looking one, too. It seemed her oval face matched perfectly with the short do that Shizuru gave her. Her hair was a dark shade of golden brown, with little tufts of curly ends pointing out here and there. Shizuru stood in the door, watching a D looked herself over.

"What'cha think?" D blinked, making sure that her chest looked flat from the binding bandages she put on, then to her muscled, well-toned arms. She blinked again.

"I'm a… guy?"

"And a hottie at that!" Atsuko said as she playfully jumped on D, wrapping her arms around her in a hug.

"Th-thanks!" D managed to squeeze out from the confines of Atsuko's bear hug.

"No problem." Shizuru said as she got a broom and began sweeping the hair off their room's balcony. After escaping from Atsuko's hug, D rushed back into the main room and grabbed her over coat.

"How much do I owe you?" She asked as she pulled out her wallet. Shizuru gave her a laughable look.

"You tip me enough back home, you don't have too when I'm out of the shop." D gave her a confused look.

"You sure? Moneys not an issue you know…" Shizuru laughed.

"It's fine. Just get out of here and go do your thing." D bowed quickly.

"Thank you very much!" She slipped out the door quickly, pulling on her overcoat as she did so. Botan and Keiko sat on the bed, shocked.

"The he was a she…" Botan started.

"Then the she went back to a he…" Keiko finished her friend's mumbled sentence as they both stared at the door.

"She's going to have girls all over her." Botan said, pity dripping from her words. Keiko nodded in agreement, but of course, no one would know that the she was a he besides them. They'd make sure of it so that D could get the respect she wanted.

----- D

D happily trotted down the hallway to the elevator, mood permanently lifted for the day. Even the annoying elevator music didn't get her spirits down as she went to get breakfast in the cafeteria. Deciding to have a little fun with the new do, she caught some of the young demon girls' drooling stares with smiles, causing a couple to faint while a few to have hearts pop out of their eyes. D sweatdropped at their reactions, _maybe I'm over doing it a bit…_ But then, catching the glares of some of the ticked off guys who had been trying to get the girls attention, D thought twice. Then she caught a couple guys looking at her with hearts in their eyes, and she decided to tone it down a bit.

After a rather odd breakfast (the waitress showed up a number of unnecessary times), D walked happily on her way out of the hotel. She guessed looking like a guy seriously helped her reputation, as it seemed a group of girls were starting a fan club for some reason, but then again, D figured it was too early to tell if a bigger reputation was a good thing or not. Finally reaching the forest, she walked in, aware that a few people were following her. She weaved her way past trees and shrubbery, being sure to make it hard for the people following her. Finally, ignoring the people behind her all together, she found a small clearing that was perfect for her training. Sitting down in the lotus position, she placed her hands on her knees and slowed her breathing. Everything was calm as she closed her eyes. The presence that was following her was actually three young demon girls, as D could focus and see them fairly clearly with her energy. One was in a tree, one behind a different tree, and one in a shrub. D was found it was getting hard to ignore them, as they started whispering to each other, as if they were stalking her and collecting data on her, which D wouldn't allow. The one in the tree shifted her position, making her an easy target for D. The limb 'accidentally' exploded, allowing D the perfect opportunity to get rid of the girls. She flashed over (really ran and jumped, but all they could see was a flash), and caught the screaming falling girl in the air. She had fainted as D landed, allowing D to have a smoother fall down, but all the same, meant that the girls would be harder to get rid of. Mentally sighing in irritation, D turned around, still holding the girl bridal style, and looked at the two girls who had come out of their hiding spots the moment they saw their friend start falling.

"Mani!" They screamed and rushed over, running to their fallen friend, who D now assumed was named Mani.

"Don't worry, she'll be fine, she's not hurt or anything. Though I do suggest you three get out of the woods, I don't think it takes well to you." One of the girls nodded, apparently the younger one, as the older one looked D in the eyes.

"What's your name?" She asked. The girl had amber eyes and a head full of green hair, with fin like ears coming out of it.

"It's D, why do you ask? Better yet, mind telling me why three pretty girls like yourselves were stalking me throughout the forest?" She blushed at the compliment, but shoved it away.

"Mine's Lila, these are my two friends, Mani, the one you're carrying, and Funie, we were just wondering if you're fighting in the tournament…" D sweatdropped.

"So you had to stalk me?" At the girl's pathetic look, D softened hers and handed Lila her friend. "Just be careful, it's not a laughing matter when someone gets hurt. Or nearly gets hurt." The girls seemed enraptured with D, or at least, that was how D figured it by the way the girls were staring at her. The smaller one snapped out of it, something D found people had to do more and more of around her.

"So you're not fighting?" Funie, another young girl, asked. They all seemed to be around the same age as Yuusuke and his friends. Lila gave the other a harsh look.

"He never said that!" She snapped at the smaller girl. D sweatdropped, so they did think she was a guy. _At least they fell for it…_

"Well, if I am fighting, you'll know it if you watch the match, if I'm not, then you won't. How about that? Besides, you need to get your friend to a doctor, or at least to a bed, where she can wake up in peace." With that, the older one nodded, Mani in her hands. She started to walk away, the other girl following. The smaller one turned around once they were seven meters or so away.

"What's your name again?!" She shouted back at D.

"D!" She yelled back. _Well, at least now I can focus…_ With that, D went back and sat down in her clearing spot, and began to go over the techniques she had thought of earlier in her head, trying them out to see which would work or not. A whole 12 hours passed as she either sat or stood in that clearing, depending on which technique she was trying out. Then she moved on to the techniques that required weapons, in which she brought out a switchblade to practice with. By the time another 8 hours had passed, D had tried out all of the techniques she had come up with, instead of just half of them, like she expected. Then again, she pulled an all-nighter, unlike what she had expected. D decided to watch the match that would happen today. She had lost track of the time, so deciding on just watching whatever match was on today, she walked into the hotel to shower first. Once out of the shower, she decided against even bringing a bandana with her, having the feeling that today was going to be extremely hot and musty. Catching her image in the mirror after D had bound herself, she was almost in shock. The towel was wrapped about her waist, and with the bandages smothering her chest down to nothing, she recognized that she did look like a boy on an extreme level. Though, her frame was rather feminine, so she was glad she had a bunch of loose shirts. After getting dressed, she walked down the stairs, deciding to skip the elevator. Once she came out, she noticed a bulletin board hanging up on the wall of the lobby. There was a map posted on it, showing the directions to the new tournament arena, the one for the finals and semi-finals. D frowned, realizing that this meant that Yuusuke's team had to fight two matches yesterday. Frowning at the underhandedness of some of the other VIPs, she walked her way to the arena. Walking up to her room (she had managed to get there just before the crowd); she sat in her new chair and ate the breakfast that she ordered. There was a new referee on the stage, who announced that the match would soon start. When the two doors on either side of the arena opened, it did.

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Hello all! This is the Beta-er of the fanfic, the authoresses older sister! I'd just like to say, PLEASE REVIEW! HONESTLY, IT'S HARD ENOUGH TAKING TIME OUT OF MY LIFE FOR MY LITTLE SISTER, THE LEAST THAT COULD BE ASKED OF YOU GUYS IS TO SHOW SOME APPRECIATION! DO YOU KNOW THE HARD WORK SHE PUTS INTO THIS STORY?! THE MAIN CHARACTER ISN'T EVEN A MARY-SUE! JEEZ! On a side note, I'd like to thank the people who have reviewed this story. It means a lot to my sister, and I really appreciate it. As for the rest of you, REVIEWING DOESN'T TAKE TWO MINUTES! SHE EVEN ENABLED ANON REVIEWS, FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO DON'T HAVE ACCOUNTS! SO PLEASE, IF SHE MADE YOUR DAY A LITTLE BIT MORE ENJOYABLE, YOU CAN MAKE HERS A LOT MORE ENJOYABLE BY PRESSING A BUTTON AT THE BOTTOM OF THIS PAGE AND SIMPLY STATING THAT YOU LIKE THE STORY! THANKYOU, AND HAVE AN ENJOYABLE DAY!

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	7. Angry, Fighting, Sleepy What?

WWWWWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!! 100 HITS BABAYYYYYYYYYY!!! Please remember that whether you review or not, I love every one of ya! That's right! You cannot escape my love my pretties!!! Just for clicking on this story! Yes, I know I'm pathetic, letting a click on someone's computer halfway around the world mean something to me, but WHO CARES?!?!?!?!!!! I still love ya, every single one of ya; even the stingy people who don't review, I STILL love ya! Lol, thats all!

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D watched in shock at the matches of the semi-finals. Yuusuke never showed. Hiei and the masked fighter seemed to get the majority of the action. Kurama, however, did take up a lot of room in her notepads when she saw his old form, Youko Kurama. Not to mention, D was right about her guess of who the masked fighter was. Genkai, the old trickster, had near everyone fooled. Suzuki had caught her attention though. He was a genius at creating things for other demons, but he was an absolute weakling compared to his partner, Shishiwakamaru. She had only filled up three notepads this time from the matches. While some aspects were impressive, it was less impressive to an extent. After all, this being the semi-finals, she expected more from the opposing team. Though the other match was interesting as well. Three people from the Toguro Team showed. There was Karasu, a demon who uses his Youki for making bombs, Bui, a man covered in armor head to toe, and the team's fifth person, Gyoko. Gyoko caught her attention the most, as he killed two of the opposing team members seemingly without trying. His hair was black, and held back in a short ponytail that probably came an inch or two off the nape of his neck. As far as she could see, his eyes were dark as well. He was tanned, and wore a ragged brown shirt with brown khaki shorts, and straw sandals. With a straw sticking out of his mouth, it seemed like he had come straight out of a samurai manga. He held two swords at his waist, while only using one. Two seemed to be normal, and he used a very samurai like fighting style. One on his waist, however, looked very similar to a sword she had once seen. A sword she had once fought with and a sword that she gave away. It interested her, to say the least.

D had left the arena after the match, and even though she got caught up in the crowds, they more or less helped her get out this time. Deciding it was best to find Yuusuke, D went searching for him first. She was in the middle of the forest when she felt it. There was an enormous power coming from the west. She raced to it, figuring it had to belong to someone she knew. D had a bad feeling about it, and all too soon, she knew why. She stopped in her tracks. Genkai's energy, which she had previously felt, was gone. She took a moment to steady herself as she fell to the ground. Crossing her legs, she covered her eyes. D felt like crying out, like screaming at the world for it to give her back; but she knew she wouldn't. Without warning, a few tears dropped from her eyes. Even though D wasn't ashamed by them, she brushed them off anyhow. She had to too keep herself from crying. She gripped her ankles with her head downcast. After about an hour or so of just sitting there being numb, thinking about what to do next, she got up. D had decided it was unlike her to sit a wallow in misery, so she had to find Yuusuke. Knowing him, he was beating himself up. She had sensed his presence earlier; she just didn't realize who it was until a few minutes ago. Getting up and brushing herself off, she walked the distance to where Yuusuke was. She had approached him from behind, in front of him was a cave, and beside him was Koenma. Koenma seemed to be encouraging Yuusuke, and glanced at D for a second while Yuusuke stood up. Yuusuke raised his hands in the air as if he were going to shoot off a reigun into heaven.

"Then I'll send her a message she'll see in both the Spirit World and Heaven!" He screamed as blue light gathered at the tip of his finger. In an instant, the biggest Reigun she had ever seen was shot into the air, countless miles. The waves of air being blown away almost forced D back a step, as it did Koenma, but she, leaning against the tree beside her, almost felt comforted by the huge blast of spirit energy. Afterwards, Yuusuke fell unto his back and stared up at the sky, causing Koenma to smirk. "Hey D?" He asked as if he was aware the whole time she was there.

"Yeah?" She didn't want to sound too harsh, but at the same time, didn't want to sound like she had been crying.

"Would you fight in Genkai's place in the finals?" His question didn't shock her, although she felt it should.

"I suppose I should be honored." Koenma almost smiled, but then again, D was staring at the grass and couldn't see past his pacifier.

----- Final Tournament Day

D didn't need anything special the day of the match, all she had to do was clean out her pockets to be sure none of the all-important notes were in there. Still feeling a little numb from yesterday, D knew she wanted time to grieve, but she couldn't have it. Trying to focus on what a big improvement will come to her research by being able to be close to the actual combat wasn't working. Pulling on fingerless gloves, her overcoat, black baggy pants, and a black beater hardly felt needed to her anymore. Whoever she fought today was going to have a major butt whooping. Her mood didn't allow anything else. Forgoing her shoes as she walked out the door, she checked to make sure she didn't bring her switch blade. It was too tempting to use when she was in the mood for the feel of blood. Her bandana was in her back pocket, but D hardly felt like either putting it on or walking back into the room, so she decided to leave it. She was in the elevator when it stopped on the second floor. Having felt their energy moments before the door opened, she wasn't shocked when Yuusuke and his team filed in. They didn't ask any questions when they saw her, just waited for the elevator to reach the lobby floor. Apparently Yuusuke had filled them in on how she would be replacing Genkai. They walked to the stadium together in silence, nobody felt like talking apparently. When the doors to the arena opened, her target was set. If Yuusuke had Toguro, then she wanted the samurai. He looked like he had something that was hers, after all. That, and he just seemed to be the one in direct line of D's sight once the doors opened.

----- Final Tournament Day, before the elevator, with Detectives

Hiei wasn't one for asking questions, but when Yuusuke had given the team the news that the mercenary would be filling in for Genkai in the fight, the whole team seemed to be curious as to why.

"He didn't even have a significant aura." Hiei stated.

Kuwabara shivered, "Says you. Just being around the guy gives me creeps. It's like he's watching your every move, and he has a counter-move for every move you make. Even when he sent his energy into me…" Kuwabara shivered again. "It's not something I'd like to happen again."

Hiei scoffed, while Kurama seemed more interested in how Yuusuke knew D was strong. "Have you ever sparred with him before?"

"Well, no…" Hiei rolled his eyes.

"Then how do we even know he's worth our time?" Something seemed to harden in Yuusuke's eyes.

"Because when I was almost done with training before the tournament, I asked Grandma how good I was compared to D." He died off, eyes going gloomy at the memory of Genkai.

"What'd she say?" Kuwabara asked. Yuusuke's eyes returned to the previous hard stare.

"That I wouldn't even hold a finger to him."

No one asked questions any further than that.

-----At the tournament arena

Both teams were summoned to the arena. The announcer, a female water demon named Juri, made it clear to bring up the point that someone was replacing Genkai when nobody informed anyone of her death, if indeed she was dead. Toguro, at that point, had said it was okay, that there was no need to bring it up. Juri blinked, and then shrugged, and went on with the announcements.

"Will the team leaders decide the mode of combat?" She spoke into the microphone.

"Five duels." Toguro said. Yuusuke nodded, then both teams went back to their sides.

"Will the teams send up their first combatants?" Juri said, and Karasu, a man with long black hair and a mask over his face, walked up.

"Oi Kurama, did you take the potion?" Kuwabara asked quickly as Kurama headed for the arena. He nodded.

"I should be able to hold my Youko form for fifteen minutes. That's plenty of time to kill Karasu and win." He said with ease as he walked to the center of the arena.

"Kick his butt Kurama!" Yuusuke yelled as the fight began. There was a loud chorus of 'Kill Him Karasu!' throughout the stands.

"It seems that everybody in the stands is for Karasu's victory!" Koto said from her stand. Though she was soon proven wrong by a very loud group of girls in the audience; mostly screams from Shizuru, Atsuko, Botan, and Keiko. Laughing slightly and shaking her head at the girl's antics, she noticed a blue-haired demon girl standing close to the group. D soon turned her attention back to the fight, as the sound of another explosion went off.

Kurama had been blown up a bit, still in his Shuuichi Minamino form. But as soon as the fight seemed over, as he was surrounded by bombs, he transformed into Youko Kurama, and the tables were turned. It was bomb against plant for awhile until Kurama caught Karasu in a giant Makai plant. He was about to walk away when he heard a giant explosion, meaning that Karasu had escaped. But now, his hair was blond, and he wore no mask. Next thing D knew, it was explosion after explosion, until Kurama had been sent back into his human form. This was shocking to the team, as Kurama still had ten minutes left. Even though his body was wounded gash after bloody gash, he got up and started to attack Karasu hand-to-hand. _Is he insane?_ D thought as she saw how the bombs began to surround him again. But Kurama got one hit at Karasu, which he planted a seed in him. Karasu noticed though, and he picked out the seed before setting off all the bombs around Kurama. Kurama fell to the floor, and Juri's counting was inaudible past the screams of the crowd. At last Kurama summoned his Makai plants once more, killing Karasu. But as Kurama walked off the arena, he apologized too Yuusuke, who helped him sit down.

"For what?" Yuusuke asked before his answer came from Juri.

"The winner is Karasu! Points are 1/0!"

"Those cheating-" Kuwabara started before he was cut off by D.

"Nobody cheated, Kurama was on the ground for the entire ten count before he killed Karasu." She explained, and Kurama nodded.

"Yes, it's true. At least I'm alive though, it's too much to say for their team." Kurama's explanation caused Kuwabara to frown, but accept it.

They were soon interrupted by Juri's voice, "The next competitor for the Toguro team is Gyoko, would the Urameshi team send up their combatant?"

"I'll-" Kuwabara was cut off by D.

"He's mine." Kuwabara's eye twitched.

"Look, I'm not sure how you're used to doing it Mr. Mercenary! But I know that-"

"It appears he possesses an item of mine that I gave to someone other than him. If it's the real deal, I want it back, if it's not, then I want to know where he got a knock off from. Any questions?" D sent him a cold stare before she moved unto the arena.

Kuwabara gulped, "He's got one heck of a creepy glare…" Yuusuke burst out laughing.

"You haven't seen him mad yet!"

The only thing that interested Hiei or Kurama in all this was that the sword on Gyoko's belt looked eerily familiar to an item they knew about.

D moved across the arena into the center, where she was about a meter away from Gyoko.

"Do you always fight barefoot?" Gyoko asked her, eyeing her feet.

"I just had the feeling that I wouldn't need my shoes today."

"Before we start, what's your name?" Juri asked, and D gave the answer.

"D." The samurai's eyes widened before he grinned.

"If I had known I'd be fighting a celebrity, I would've straightened myself up a bit."

"Second match! Gyoko vs. D!" Whispers erupted through the crowd, though a group of fan girls on either side of the stadium cheered for either contestant. Yuusuke sweatdropped, D had a fan girl group just like Shishiwakamaru.

"I hardly care for appearances."

Gyoko grinned even further, "You should."

"BEGIN!"

The attack was fast, as Gyoko pulled a sword out to dice D with. All that appeared was a bloody after image of where D was. It was as if Gyoko slashed through D, as he ended up behind her. He smirked and straightened out his posture, figuring he had won.

"You know, that was my favorite coat. Now I'm going to have to use the one the idiot bought me." D stood on top of her overcoat, which had three long gashes in it. She was unharmed, though with her coat off, her almost scrawny, but muscled, figure showed through. Scratching the back of her head, she let out a sigh. _So he wants to end it quickly…_

Laughter was heard as Gyoko turned around to face D, "I should've known that that attack wouldn't even touch you!" He kept laughing. D's expression turned to boredom as she shoved her hands in her pockets.

"Yet you tried it anyway, huh?" She said calmly, still examining the damage to her coat. The rips made it looked ragged, as they looked as if a tiger had slashed through it. She sighed again, _Damn…_

Gyoko's laughter fell silent. "Ya know? I've always wondered what it would be like to meet you. To meet the one and only prodigy of the Human World. The maker of the two weapons! One of which I own, as you see…" He lifted one of the swords higher than the other on his belt, as if to show it off.

"If that really is my sword, mind telling me its name?" D asked, silencing the whispers that had started to arise in the crowd once more. Gyoko looked confused, then he smirked again, as if to hide his ignorance.

"It has no name, You're trying to fool me!"

D would've looked even more bored with the situation, had it been possible. "Only a fool would be so easily convinced that that sword was of my making. I'll give you three reasons why it is nothing more than a replica. One, the sword of my making does not rip," She motioned to the coat's tears, "It cuts. Two, when you pulled out the blade, it's name is engraved upon the side, on yours it was not." Gyoko looked like D had slapped him in the face. "And finally, do you really think I would make a sword that would attack its own maker?" Gyoko's eyes narrowed dramatically, a scowl placed on his face. "My sword was given to someone who the likes of you, a mere upper C class, will never have the hope of defeating." If possible, Gyoko looked even angrier than before.

"You think that I'm a mere C class?" His voice was drawn back.

"At the most." D's brutal honesty was getting to him, she wouldn't even give him the hope of delusions.

"Now I shall show you the power of appearances! For it seems you have judged mine incorrectly! Sword or not!" He disappeared again to the eyes of the audience, but soon came back into view as he slid off to the side of the arena. When the audience looked back to D, all they saw was her lowering her left leg, still in the same slouched position as from before. Gyoko quickly got back up and charged at D, his arms to quick to see, but the rest of him was still visible. D was seen stepping backwards and swaying to different sides rapidly. It seemed as though she was dodging all his attacks with ease. Juri was quick to report this, as well as many other aspects of the fight. The attack and dodge method was used for a good minute or two before D seemed to lose her footing. Her body fell backwards, allowing Gyoko to slash at her head. As if realizing there had been a mistake in her movements, her eyes widened from their previously lifeless state just in time for her to jerk her head back and avoid the fatal blow. Pushing her body back with it, she fell into a handstand, where she quickly fell to her elbows and lowered her legs to Gyoko's abdomen level, and pushed him back with most of her leg strength while swinging her legs in an arc. The was a crash from where his body landed, and Juri started the count down after a minute of being stunned, after all, the body flew right past her. D fell backward unto her back before picking herself up and dusting off her knees. She then turned to face where Gyoko was pushing himself out of the rubble. Feeling something wet run down her cheek, D searched the area on her face, looking for a scratch. There had been a cut across her left cheek, a good three inches long. _I haven't been cut since…_ Her memories flashed back to a time where she risked her life near daily. _No, I can't waste my time focusing on the past! This is the present! Far more important!_ She shook herself out of memory lane as her fingers dropped from the bleeding to-be scar. Frowning at her own empty-mindedness, she watched as Gyoko hopped up on the stage, in time for Juri's count to reach seven.

"Now you've really done and made me angry!" Gyoko charged at D, unaware she felt the same way. With a sword in each hand, he disappeared from D's sight for the slightest of seconds before appearing right in front of her. Her left hand shot out and grabbed his head, her fingers still showing the slightest hint of her blood.

"Wrong move." His head flew backwards with the force of the explosion. Well, what was left of his head did, for only up to his jaw was his body still intact. Past that though, there was a splat of blood and brains, mixed in with fragments of skull and matted sections of hair. D's left hand dropped to her side, people like him really ticked her off. Boo's went up in the stadium, other than D's fan girl section, of course.

"Don't even bother with the count." D said as he walked past Juri back to her teams side.

"And the winner is D! The score is now tied with both sides winning one fight!" D stepped down the stairs to her side easily, quite aware of the looks she received while doing so.

"What?" She asked, quite confused at their confusion, "He was probably the weakest on their team. Don't expect it to be easy for either of you." She looked particularly towards Kuwabara and Hiei. She then went to the wall and sat down, pulling out her bandana with her right hand as she did so.

"And you didn't just kill him immediately in the first place with that move… why?" Kuwabara was the first to voice his question.

D sighed, figuring she'd tell the truth, she shrugged then answered, "It's a last resort of sorts. While blowing up the body part that I touch, or send energy waves into, it does damage to the veins and such where I sent that energy out." Wiping off all the gore from her hand, wincing as she did so, she showed him the damage. The entire face of her left hand was a blackish-purple hue. Even Hiei looked slightly disgusted at the sight.

"So in turn for blowing up the body part, you blow up your veins." Kurama digested the information. "Not like Karasu at all." D nodded.

"Not even in the least. I can copy techniques decently, but everyone needs practice or training in that technique. It would take me an hour just to see if I could copy his bomb style."

"And that's why you used your left hand, because you're right handed." Yuusuke pointed out, he'd seen her righting notes down before. D nodded at that, too. Placing her right hand on top of her left, her hands started to glow a bright blue.

"I'm not the best at healing, but I can patch myself up pretty good if I do say so myself." By the time the clean-up crew got done with the mess D had made on the arena, Hiei was as anxious as ever.

"The next is mine. I was planning on taking Toguro, but in light of Genkai, he's yours." He spoke to Yuusuke, who nodded in return. D watched as Bui made his way to the center of the arena, Hiei following shortly after.

_So this is it huh? I get to see the Kokuryuha this close… this is going to be spectacular!_ D's interest in the fight only went to that one attack. The match was short enough, though by the time it was over D's hand had healed enough for her to move a couple fingers it was over. It was amusing, to say the least, when Hiei returned from the arena looking like a zombie. His arm was completely charred, but the look on his face was hilarious. He looked as if he were about to fall over, and after a brief explanation about why he was so tired, and needed to sleep, his body did just that. He fell over, Kurama catching him, and his body was placed on the ground so he could sleep.

_Funny how no matter how tough a guy tries to seem, they always look so adorable when they sleep._ D though to herself, watching him sleep peacefully, and laughed silently to herself. _An adorable killer, who would've thought?_ But no matter how cute he looked, it terrified her to an extent, that dragon of his. It had demolished the arena, destroying a good third of it. She sighed, examining the damage to his arm from her distance. She near cringed, it was bad. She almost pitied the guy. Feeling someone's eyes on her, she turned her head to where Kurama was watching her. He caught he gaze and held it, as if diagnosing her threat level.

"You do know it's rude to stare at people, right?" She had assumed he was the polite one. However, looking as serious as possible, he asked a simple, yet annoying question. Annoying to D, at any rate.

"How exactly will you be studying us, and for how long?" Translating the question into a statement, D figured out what he was getting at.

"Don't worry, any examining I do will be at a distance. When I measured Yuusuke's heart rate, it was to see his progress over time. I wouldn't put your friends or family in any danger, I gave up that sort of work a long time ago." He seemed too accept the answer, or at least tolerated it, as Yuusuke looked their way at hearing his name. As if a light bulb turned on in his head, Yuusuke acted as if he had a brilliant idea.

"Oi D!" She turned her head to him.

"Hm?"

"You make swords right?" He sat down in front of her, trying to keep her attention.

"No."

He raised an eyebrow at her blank, slightly annoyed face. "But that guy, he said that you made his sword." D sighed, this would be a difficult concept to explain.

"I didn't, it was a replica." He smirked.

"Ah, but you still made a sword."

"No." His eye twitched.

"What the Hell?! I know you made a sword, he said so! You're trying to lie you way out of this!"

D raised an eyebrow, "I'm not lying my way out of anything. I didn't make a sword."

"Then what the hell did you do to get famous for?!"

"….."

Yuusuke sweatdropped, what was with this silence?

D wondered how she could explain the process too him in a simple way.

Unbeknownst to both of them, both Kuwabara and Kurama were paying attention to the current conversation.

"Uh…." Yuusuke's eye twitched, the hell? He had never gotten D speechless before.

"I guess…" He leaned forward, curiosity getting to him.

"Well…" He leaned closer, Kurama and Kuwabara with him.

"Um…" Even closer.

"Let's see…" Closer.

"It's too difficult of a concept for you to understand."

All three of them faceplanted. (The anime action where it seems gravity triples and there head is propelled toward the ground at a very rapid rate.)

"D-SAMA!!!!!"

All four of them looked to where a group of girls in the stands were cheering for D. Some fainted and others gushed over D's critiquing gaze. As if a giant question mark appeared over her head, D turned to Yuusuke, confused.

"Who are they?"

"Wouldn't you know? Their YOUR fan group." He seemed humored at D's easy-goingness. D wasn't usually like that at all, he had noticed, he was more of a tight-wad. But something was off with the scientist, Yuusuke just couldn't place it.

"….Oh." It clicked in her head, and then she shrugged. She frowned mentally at her sleepiness, the constant energy flow coming out of one hand and to the other was draining her. Without warning, she yawned. "You know what? Ask me again later about the sword thing, okay? I'm not thinking too straight right now."

Yuusuke seemed too understand, as he nodded, and without another word, went over to Kuwabara. D continued to heal her hand.

"What's up with him?" Kuwabara motioned to D.

"You may not have noticed but," Yuusuke looked Kuwabara in the eye, "D doesn't actually have a lot of spirit energy. A lot of things take a strain on him, and healings a lot harder on him than other things."

Kuwabara nodded, "Like fighting?"

Yuusuke shrugged, "I suppose."

"Anything else we should know about the guy?" He was shocked at Yuusuke's serious face; it wasn't that touchy of a subject. Yuusuke nodded, then in all seriousness, spoke D's biggest weakness (that he knew of, of course).

"He has a weak spot for cute things."

It was all Kuwabara could do to keep from laughing.


	8. Alive! The wrath of a friend

**WARNING!!! THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS MUCH MORE MATURE CONTENT AND IS HEREBY RATED M!!! DO NOT READ IF YOU HAVE SENSITIVITY TO CUSSING OR VIOLENCE!!! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!!!** **Seriously, I'm probably going to rate the whole series M soon. Well, now that that's out of the way…**

**You guys do know that reviewing inspires me to write and update faster, right? I was going to read Fruits Basket manga online (since I've watched the anime twice) when I decided to check how many reviews I've got. And then, seeing two new ones for one chapter alone inspired me so much, I ditched the manga and started to type! Also, I LOVE MY PLATYPUS EGG! Also, I especially love ALL my reviewers! Yes, Tsuki Kio, even you! And the anon. person who reviews, you're so kind (create a pen name and sign the bottom of your reviews, so I know its you)! Death101, OMFGZ!, and jackinafrikinbox, you are all too sweet! Like yummy, melt-in-your-mouth chocolaty cookies! I would eat you up, I would! Yes, even you readers that don't review, I still love you… just not as much…what? I'm an extremely favoriting person! Deal with it, you read my story! Hahaha, though I guess I should be grateful, which I am. Enjoy the story, as usual, I tried to cram-pack humor in!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own YuYu Hakusho or any of the characters within. There's no telling what would happen to the poor characters if I did… Also, I don't own the normal plot, just the plot of my characters' lives. It hardly interrupts anything, really.**

***Note: Marquise really is on his best behavior since Shiruque's around, if any of you have ever soon Malcolm in the Middle (it okay if you haven't), she's like the mom in a way!**

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_Ker-SPLAT!_ Or at least, that's the sound D had imagined when Kuwabara finished off Ani Toguro. The fight seemed pointless for Kuwabara at first, and with him finding out about Genkai's passing, it made him even more stubborn to win. He had kept drawing his sword, and only when he extended it into a giant flat circle to hit all parts of Toguro at once did he win. D near felt bad for Juri, she actually had to confirm the death. She wouldn't want to look at that mess either, after all. Kuwabara came back to the group after the fight, looking angrier than D had ever seen. He gripped Yuusuke's shirt, and demanded to know why he was left in the dark about Genkai's death. D felt bad for the guy, but completely understood Yuusuke's point in not telling. He was, after all, in some form of denial. This was proven by his response, of course.

"Grandma died before my eyes…" A mixture of shock and confusion swarmed in Kuwabara's eyes. Yuusuke looked at the ground while he spoke, "I asked D to help out in her part of the contest. It's no longer just our fight… even so… still… I don't believe… what I saw. I thought she might suddenly come back… somehow… and if I said "She's dead!", if I admitted it, then I'd feel like she really was… so I didn't say it… that's all." It took Kuwabara a minute to think. Then he "pfft"-ed, and told Yuusuke straight up.

"Urameshi," He grabbed Yuusuke's attention, their eyes locked, "Win!" Yuusuke smiled at this, and nodded.

"Definitely!" And with that, he walked toward the center of the ring. Just as Juri was about to say how the Urameshi team won all the other matches, and that this was pointless, someone from the stands interrupted.

"Ahem, if I may propose an offer to the team and board?" D recognized the owner of the voice as Sakyou, the owner of team Toguro and one of the sponsors for the tournament. Without actually waiting for permission, he continued as D found him in the audience. "I would like to propose that the winner of this match gets three victories, instead of one, so that the winner of this match ultimately wins the tournament." Juri looked unsure about it, but when Koenma grabbed the mike from Koto and agreed, the board members approved and the match was on.

D thought to herself as she watched Toguro kill his brother ruthlessly, _So Koenma's risking it all, eh? Though I suppose depriving Yuusuke of this fight would be relatively stupid… still, that's a bit risky for the prince of the spirit world. Is he really that confident about Yuusuke's abilities? _D glanced over the fighter, before said emotion filled her. _I really can't say much… I am too._ And she was soon filled with disappointment, however, when Yuusuke wouldn't unleash his full power without a sacrifice. She saw fear and hate fill the others as Toguro turned his attention to their group. She knew none of them were in a position to fight back, neither was she. It had taken most of what she had to heal her hand completely. She was about to doze off, truthfully, but she would never show it. Hiei had awoken; Kurama and Kuwabara were still weakened from their injuries as well, though. She was about to use the last of her strength to form a barrier around all of them when Kuwabara charged at Toguro. _Fool!_ Was her first thought, but then seeing him whisper to Kurama after Toguro struck him down really struck her as funny; especially how Yuusuke reacted to his friends "death". Truthfully, it was hilarious, but she had to keep a straight face to make it believable. And so she did, and so it worked. Yuusuke had tears in his eyes, and as his anger filled him, so did victory. It had worried her, Yuusuke's last move. She had never seen a spirit gun so big, it was bigger than the one he sent into heaven. He seemed to be drawing on his last ounces of strength, and it still didn't seem likely to win as Toguro went 100% over 100%, and shocked the crowd (what was left of it, anyway) with his even bigger muscles.

_You imbecile! If you draw on your spirit power anymore, you're going to start sapping at your life energy!_ D was near frantic, how could she help? But she knew if she stepped in, Yuusuke would never forgive her. This was his fight, all of it depended on him. And in the end, just as it seemed Toguro had won, his muscles exploded, and Yuusuke stood back up from his fallen place on the ground. He had won. Urameshi Yuusuke beat the seemingly invincible Toguro, avenging Genkai. Relief filled the audience, but humor filled her as she watched Yuusuke sob over Kuwabara's "dead" body. She chuckled as she watched the team members fool around with each other. But all too soon, their time for celebration was over. Sakyou was going to explode the stadium, and people were rushing to get out before it did. She stood, a little wobbly, and calmly but quickly made her way out. She made it clear out the entrance and halfway to the hotel before the stadium exploded. She quickly searched for everyone's energies. Finding them safe, she mentally sighed with relief, and she made her way back to the hotel in a cheery mood. She assumed they had a week to get off the island, all those that survived the tournament would want to get off as quick as possible. There would probably be ferries to the mainland, and she would plan to take the last one. It would be less crowded, after all. Sighing as she reached her room, she locked the door behind her before plopping into her bed.

_All's well that ends well, I suppose._ And with that as her final thought, she drifted off to sleep.

She awoke in the early morning to the feeling of someone watching her. As if that didn't make her angry enough, the feeling continued all through her morning routine. She even ordered room service for breakfast so that she could sit and watch the person watching her. Of course, she wouldn't look like it, oh no, she typed up reports and notes on her computer about her research. She had fallen behind, going to sleep so early yesterday. So she would make up for it now, as she typed and focused with her mind on the stalker. _Going by the vibrations coming off of him, he's a demon. A weak one. Now who would hire a demon to follow me?_ A number of names popped into her head, a few standing out here and there. _That imbecile…_She mentally growled as she figured it out. Who else but him would have agents at a Tournament? She would give him a good piece of her mind soon, but first she had to see just how thorough this demon would be. If he watched her for more than a day, she'd write a letter to the idiot controlling the demon, telling him to either call him off, or she would be killing the demon. She growled again, and decided to focus on her research more now that she had figured out his motives. So she sat there typing for a good five or six hours, working on her computer. Finally done for the day, she printed off the twenty pages of notes and the sort that summarized all the information she gathered while at the tournament. Stapling them, she went into her closet and pulled out her suitcase. Putting them on the bottom, she decided just to leave early. She packed everything, being sure to keep her dirty clothes separate from the clean ones. Then heading into the bathroom, she gathered all of her stuff and packed it, too. Dragging the suitcases over to the door, she exited and locked her room behind her; she'd have someone come up and get them. Heading down to the main entrance, she asked the counter person when the ferry leaves.

"The soonest one is in an hour, actually." She perkily replied, "We could send someone up to get your bags for you, if you like." D agreed, and bought a ferry ticket. Figuring if she took it slow, it would be a thirty minute walk down to the harbor; she took her time walking through the forest. She paused though, when she heard a rustling of the bushes to her left. Then the sound of laughter, and a very annoying voice that she recognized. She paused and waited for the Orea to run her way, figuring why not. After all, the laughter that sounded was female, and D was tempted to see who would actually date the perverted fiend of a friend. She was, of course, shocked to see a familiar face floating in the air under Marquise's scrawny arm. It was the blue Orea, Shiruque, from the ticket stand. Shiruque's laughter fell silent and her eyes turned as big as saucers when she saw D. Marquise greeted D in a very odd manner.

"Why hello mistress, you catching the ferry too?" D figured Marquise was just trying to show off for his girl. Though her eyes, if possible, went even bigger.

"This is your mistress? But…" She punched him in the ribs, "You idiot! You never told me she was your mistress!" Shiruque then floated in front of D, and her head full of sea-green hair bowed lowly. "I wish to thank you very much for giving me fifty silver at the ticket stand that day. With the money I was able to buy myself out of slavery, and then meet Marquise, and I now live a much happier life! Thank you very much, I am forever in your debt." D raised an eyebrow, she was a slave? Shrugging it off, she tilted the Orea's head up to examine the girl more closely. She had large sky blue eyes and a small nose, typical for the water breed of Oreas. It was common that the different breeds of Orea's mixed, and sometime's expected, as it was rare to see a pure bred Orea, like in both Shiruque and Marquise's cases. Marquise was of fire, this girl of water. _Funny how opposites attract, eh?_ She thought to herself almost playfully. She looked to Marquise, who was rubbing his ribs, muttering to himself about how he couldn't have possibly known his mistress was the one who changed the girl's life.

"You were actually right, the girl is quite cute." He grinned at D's complement to his tastes as Shiruque blushed and stood back up straight, still floating in air.

"Isn't she? She's my type of girl, she is. Sweet and beautiful, just how I like 'em." Marquise grinned and turned his attention to his girlfriend, floating over and slinging his arm back over her shoulders. She blushed even further at his complement, preferring to stay quiet. D raised an eyebrow at Marquise's show of affection for the girl, and his lack of insults toward herself. Hell, if he kept acting like this, the girl should stay with him forever, D wouldn't mind one bit.

"Ma'am, if there's…" Shiruque died off at the look on D's face and Marquise's snicker. D scowled, being called ma'am made her feel old… really old. She decided to correct the girl peacefully, instead of scaring her, she did look so fragile.

"Don't call me ma'am… ever. It makes me feel old, how about D?" She looked to the girl, pulling the scowl off her face in exchange for a neutral tone. Shiruque nodded.

"D-sama," D winced as the memories of the fangirls popped in her head, "If there's anything I could do for you, anything at all, I'd be more than happy to oblige. I am forever in your debt, after all." D smirked, she had a decent retort for that.

"No need deary." She passed around them into the forest once more, making her way to the harbor. They followed, "I already have one servant, no need for two." Marquise scoffed to hide his offense at the insult.

"If you can call me a servant, D-_sama_, I'd be happy to tell Shiruque here _all about_ some of the details of your job." D winced, _stupid demons and their stupid comebacks…_ Marquise took this time to whisper something in Shiruque's ear, which D was in no heart to try to listen to. She soon made her way to the rather large and extravagant ferry. Deciding to go ahead and get to her room, she handed the crewman working the entrance her ticket, and in exchange she got a ticket with her room number and a set of keys with it.

"Room 209, your bags have already been transported." He spoke without looking up from his clipboard. She nodded and made her way down to her room. It was the same ferry that took her here, she realized. They'd probably wanted to save money after the stadium incident. The room was made for the rich, as usual. Shades of silver and blue filled the room. It was one of the bigger rooms, she could tell. Not that they'd give any less to the all-powerful mercenary who blew up a head just because someone annoyed her. She laughed aloud at the thought of everyone on deck bowing to her, naming her queen of the ship. Then chuckled softly when she imagined what type of face the Spirit Detectives would make while doing so. Disgust, maybe? Perhaps annoyance? _Ah but the recipe calls for a dash of anger, and then splat! The sea turned red, oh-my-god!_ She could just imagine some little girl on the beach taking a family vacation and going to play in the water when the head of a demon washed up on the shore. She'd scream and- wait… why was she thinking such sadistic thoughts again? She shrugged and went to plop on her bed. Her eyes lit up in happiness as she felt it. A water bed. She had never slept on a water bed before, and she hoped it would be comfy. When she sank into the pillows, she was certain it was. As if there was someone made to ruin her so far happy day, a knock came to her door.

"Who is it?" She called, hoping for lunch to be delivered.

"Eh? So this is your room, you sound happy." The voice belonged to none other than Yuusuke, she should've known. Rolling her eyes, she got up and opened her door.

"That's because I haven't had to see your ugly mug all day." He grinned at her retort, and stepped inside her room. Shutting the door, she felt something stop her motion. Seeing a hand wrapped around the door almost made her jump. Almost. Instead, she raised an eyebrow at Yuusuke's furthering grin and swung open the door again. Her heart near exploded with shock, relief, and happiness all at once at the sight of who was standing in her doorway. Her graying pink hair and fierce brown eyes were a welcome sight to D. As if the fact needed to be proved, D grinned.

"So Koenma brought you back to life huh?" Genkai nodded and smiled at D, it had been awhile since she had seen the girl (she had snuck a peek into D's closet when fetching the bandages for Yuusuke's foot) smile so enthusiastically.

"I heard you blew up a head." D chuckled, was that what she was going to be known for around here? Ah well, it was fine with her.

"Come in, I'll order tea!" Genkai made her way onto D's couch, Yuusuke following with a smile. D picked up the phone next to the door and dialed room service. Once done, she headed onto the couch in front of the one they were sitting on. "So I assume everyone made it out of the stadium okay?"

Yuusuke laughed, "Yeah, we're all good. Kuwabara's a little miffed that you didn't wait for us, but I told him 'bout your bad habit of leavin' quickly, so it's all good." D cocked her head to the side.

"I have a bad habit of leaving quickly?" She thought for a moment about all of her exits from places this year. "Oh, I guess I do. I'll have to work on that." Yuusuke laughed, so D didn't know.

"Well, all's well that ends well, if you ask me! I plan on going home and playing video games!"

D smiled again, "Have you heard of Mortal Kombat?" Both Yuusuke and Genkai nodded. "Then I might just have to beat both of you." Yuusuke scoffed.

"As if you could." Genkai raised an eyebrow at D's challenge.

"That's not even possible." Both Yuusuke and D laughed at this while Genkai smirked. Soon their tea was served, along with plates of food and wine.

"Damn! You get set up, don't you?" Yuusuke eyed the food and wine before digging into his roasted pork.

"Hahaha!" She faked laughing arrogantly, "The powers of being rich!" Yuusuke snorted at this, while shoving his face, therefore causing him to start choking on his food. D laughed at his distress.

"That's what you get for talking while you're eating dimwit." He finally got it down by drinking his tea, and the conversation continued between the three of them. D couldn't help but smile and laugh at the whole time, her day was just going so well! She had met a polite girl to keep Marquise in line, Genkai was back, and she had nothing to fear from her stalker! _Yes, too good indeed!_ She thought to herself happily as yet another of Genkai's sarcastic comments sent her into a laughing fit. That was until, of course, there was a banging and a crash coming from outside her door in the hallway. All three of the fighters traded glances before they ran out the room to see what was going on. There, on the ground, sat a very in-pain-and-scared looking Keiko holding onto her ankle as if it were going to explode.

"Keiko-san!" That was the apparition D had seen earlier with the group of girls. She had an almost sea-green hair and soft red eyes. Red eyes that looked eerily familiar, D noted. The girl leaned over Keiko in worry.

"Keiko!" Yuusuke rushed to his girlfriend's side, making sure she was alright. A shadow was cast over the group, D noticed, coming from their left. Looking up the stairway that led onto the deck, D saw the perpetrator. A scrawny purplish demon with a black suit on stood at the top, grinning down at the hurt human. His look instantly changed to fear however, when he caught D's gaze. Yuusuke's eyes widened as he felt a gust of air pass him, then the darkness that had been in the hallway disappeared, and he could clearly see the sky past the door at the top of the stairs. Ignoring it, Yuusuke focused his attention to the hurt brunette. "What happened? How did you hurt your ankle?"

At that moment, Kuwabara came running down the hallway, with Kurama and Hiei right behind him. "Miss Yukina, are you okay?" He stopped by the ice demon and kneeled to be eye level.

"Yes, though I can't say the same for Keiko-san." She explained as she grabbed the girl's ankle and her hands started to glow blue. As Keiko's hands moved out of the way to let the girl do her job, the clearly broken ankle was shown to everyone in the vicinity, including the demons that had just caught up.

"What happened?" Kurama asked as he eyed the injured girl.

"We were walking to the food court when this demon started chasing us. Keiko knew the room all of you were staying at so we ran this way. When we reached to staircase, we ran down. I had tripped and Keiko-san reached out for me to catch me, but she landed on her ankle wrong. I am really sorry my klutziness harmed you Keiko-san, I really am." Keiko smiled at the girl, as if saying she was forgiven, but she was in too much pain to speak.

"D, could you-" Yuusuke was cut off when he turned around to see an empty doorway. He furrowed his eyebrows, "Where'd D go?" He looked to Genkai, who was standing to his right.

"Chasing after the demon that was harassing Keiko when you were to worried to notice." At seeing all of their shocked expressions, Genkai filled in more, "I suppose he's been caught by now, and D's probably giving a good piece of his mind. After all, it was the same demon who had been stalking him all day." Genkai made a real effort not to reveal the girl's secret about her gender, she would be in some serious debt.

"Why would the same demon who was stalking D-san be harassing Keiko-san and Yukina-san? Moreover, why would a demon be stalking D-san in the first place?" Kurama spoke for all of their shocked expressions.

"Well, the guy does have a fan club, but that doesn't give good reason to harass Keiko and Yukina." Yuusuke stated a fact, but it sent all the people in the hallway into quiet thought.

----- With D from her disappearance

D had caught the fleeing demon in record time. In less than ten seconds, in fact, she had him by the neck dangling over the side of the ship, which had set sail some time ago.

"Who sent you?" She growled out, already knowing the answer. The panicking demon made no hesitance with the answer.

"An acquaintance of yours! I'm sorry! I was just having a little fun! I didn't know you knew them!" He was practically shrieking in terror as his clawed hands gripped D's, hopping she wouldn't let him fall.

"What does he want?" She tightened her grip on his jugular.

He chocked, but eventually gave an answer, "Just to rekindle an old relationship! That's all I was told! I swear it!" He was slowly choking to death as D tightened her grip once more, and his eyes started to pop out.

"What were you planning to do to Keiko-san and the apparition?" Her teeth grated together, and as the demon looked fearfully into her angry eyes, he started to pee himself.

"I'm sorry! It won't happen again! I'm sorry! I didn't mean it! It won't happen again!" The demon just kept repeating himself as D's eyes flashed with uncontrolled anger.

"Damn right it won't." With that final phrase, she dropped the demons neck for a millisecond before grabbing his jugular and ripping it out. The blood sprayed everywhere as the demon gurgled, drowning in his blood. She dropped him into the sea, hovering over the edge just long enough to see his still living body be torn to shreds by the sharks. Finally satisfied with the result, but still angry none the less, she looked at the blood that had sprayed all over her right arm. She even felt a bit of the warm liquid spray on her face and right side of her neck, though she wasn't complaining. When she got back, she could easily rinse it off. But now, she would be giving this acquaintance of hers a good piece of her mind. Yes, he would be getting a rather nice letter with some rather nice writing, and she knew just who to have write it for her. But putting the safety of Keiko first, she rushed back to the hallway where she had left the human. Appearing right before her had apparently given the group (which had more people in it than when she last made check) some fright, for they looked at her with a mixture of confusion and fear, and something like anger.

"Is he dead?" Yuusuke asked as D examined the wound that the demon girl was healing.

"Mm," D said, talking to Yuusuke but still examining the wound, "He should've never even been here." With this, she looked at Keiko, who seemed to be coping with her pain. "I'm sorry, if I had dealt with him earlier instead of letting him roam, you wouldn't have gotten hurt." Keiko smiled at her.

"It's not your fault," she then looked to the demon who was healing her, "Yours either, Yukina." The demon girl, Yukina, D had learned, smiled demurely and kept focusing on her friend's leg. D smiled at the girl, who was looking at her curiously, and stood.

"If you all don't mind me, I've got a letter to write and some contacting to do." The group looked to her suspiciously. She called for her always creative henchman, "Marquise!"

There was a *poof*, and shock filled their faces. "Right here!" The Orea piped, happy to get a little free time.

"We're writing Deacon, the ass is causing me some trouble. Because of his carelessness, Keiko-san got hurt. The idiot is going to pay." Marquise laughed his annoying laugh and happily pulled a pen and parchment out of nowhere.

"That's always fun, what should we start it with this time, 'Dear Asswipe'? Oh, I got one! How about 'Dickweed'? Haven't used that one in awhile!" He followed as D went into her room.

"Oh, you guys, feel free to move Keiko-san onto my couch. It has to be more comfortable than the floor." After saying that over her shoulder to the group, which they hurriedly followed to do, she focused her attention on Marquise and the letter. She nodded to the floating Orea as she headed to the bathroom, none of her stuff was in it, but she closed the door nonetheless. "Dickweed's good, but leave out the 'Dear', he might think it actually means something. Explain how I don't want his lackeys following me or my company, and that he himself is not allowed to be within ten kilometers of any of them. Don't go easy on the cussing, he has to get the point. Also, don't put love at the end, or any farewell at all really. Just sign it when you're done." Marquise nodded and sat on the counter as D grabbed a sponge and wet it, getting the blood off her body.

"Okay, how about… Dickweed, if you come within ten fucking kilometers of me, or anyone I know for that matter, I will personally make your life a living hell. If you don't keep your shitfaced lackeys away from me, or them, I will personally exterminate them. Like the most recent one you sent to stalk me. Keep the hell away," He recited as he wrote, and D nodded as she finished up with the bloody mess. Grabbing a towel, she dried herself off. Walking out, he followed.

"And that's where I'd sign. What name do you want me to use?" He reread his work, making sure there were no errors in spelling. The conversation caught the attention of the group on the couch, for sure. D sweatdropped, what was she supposed to say?

"Um… I'm not sure he'd recognize D so… my nickname." She was trying to be vague so that the gang didn't catch too much to hear.

"Human one?" Marquise asked, already scribbling away. With a simple yes, she turned to face Keiko.

"How is your ankle?" The girl smiled at D, happy for her concern.

"Yukina-chan really is a great healer; it's almost as good as new! She's still working on it, though." Yukina looked a bit frazzled at the compliment, but looked over to D apologetically.

"I-I'm sorry I'm slow, it won't be much longer, I promise." She looked back down. _My, she's really shy…_ D thought to herself, but nonetheless smiled at the girl once more.

"Take as long as you need. There's no need to rush, if you need anything, I'll be in my room." With that, D scurried off to her wonderful waterbed. Marquise, seeing that he was no longer needed, *poof*-ed into nonexistence.

Yuusuke sighed as D went into her room, "He did it again."

Kuwabara voiced everyone's confusion, "Did what Urameshi?" Yuusuke leaned on the arm of the couch he was on.

"Just that stupid bad habit of his. Problem is, he doesn't realize when he does it." Yuusuke sighed again, wondering what could have happened to the demon that had suffered D's wrath.

"I still can't believe he so willingly went after the demon after ditching all of us at the stadium." Kuwabara looked confusedly toward the bedroom door, but got a response from Genkai, so his gaze quickly shifted to her.

"D probably didn't think of the situation at the stadium as ditching you. He's not really a people person, if you haven't noticed. And unless you did notice, he does actually care for Keiko-san as a friend, and thus he probably regards you in the same manner; or an ally, at least. He knew you didn't need watching over at the stadium, because he was weak enough from healing his hand as it is. He would've been a burden, not a help, in the state he was in, and realizing that, he removed himself from the situation. He cares, at least to some extent, about the safety of all of you." Kuwabara sat shocked at the realization forced on him by Genkai. The others, too, seemed a bit winded.

"He probably does care, after all, we are his lab rats." Yuusuke said, he meant it to sound joking, to lighten up the mood, but it didn't come out so well. Keiko slapped him.

"Yuusuke you jerk!" She huffed as she sat on the couch with her ankle propped up. "D-san is a very nice person! Unlike you, he's not a brute! He's caring and sweet!" Her actions caused Yukina to giggle, her and Yuusuke looked as if they were having a lover's spat.

"Eh? When did you become close to the guy?!" Yuusuke demanded.

"If you don't happen to know, D-san is a very well respected regular at our shop!" Yuusuke blinked at the realization.

"So that's where he got the sushi from…" Keiko blinked.

"Oh, the sushi he always ordered was for you?" Yuusuke nodded.

"Yeah, he always brought sushi for me whenever I trained with Grandma. Since she never gave me enough time to have a decent meal." He shot a glare at said lady, who shrugged it off.

"What doesn't kill you makes you stronger, dimwit."

"Like hell starving someone makes them stronger! I'd be dead if it weren't for that sushi!" Yuusuke and Genkai's bickering caused what was left of the group to chuckle and relax (Hiei left when he saw Yukina was safe and D was back, Kurama bid his farewell when D was in the bathroom). Well, now that they knew D was an ally, things were going to get a lot nicer.

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**Yo! How you like it? I would know if you would review(hint, hint). Anyways, how many of you watch Bleach? If you haven't heard of it, I highly suggest it. Go to for all you anime needs! And no, I wasn't paid to say that. So I'm planning on starting a Bleach fanfic, here's the summary:**

_Egyptian Desire:_ Shemei is the most flirtatious girl at Karakura High, even more so than Chizuru. Being bored with all the regular students, when she meets Rukia, her topsy-turvy world as the adopted niece of Urahara Kisuke spikes as she travels with the gang to make sure that her newest play-thing isn't harmed. But of course, meeting all the "cute" Shinigami on the way really isn't helping out Soul Society at all. _Bleach: eventual RenjixOc_

**So… what do you think? Please tell in your reviews! I need to know if you think it would be interesting or not! Anywho, you wouldn't believe how hard it was to force my sister to beta this chapter. At first, we started bickering because of the name of the guy who sent an agent after D, she likes names like Augustus, and Gertrude(bleh!), but I liked Zane or Deacon. So after she switched the name when she edited it, it switched it back! ;) I feel so sneaky! (Took her two days to beta this chapter! I write, but I can't get it out until she's done with it!) Love you all, and my platypus egg is wiggling! I think it's going to hatch by chapter ten! You're all amazing for actually reading this, so Review please! It's that button right below this script! Bye bye!**


	9. Epiphany! Enter Deacon!

**Hey you guys, sorry for the late update, I've been so busy, and my life's a daze. I haven't got a break all summer from guard, but I'd rather have you guys wait for a good chapter than release one I'm not proud of and not sure you'll enjoy. You'll be meeting the other main OC in this one, or at least, he's introduced. Many of you might have been wondering 'When is D going to hook up with someone? Will it be Koenma, Kurama, or Hiei?'; well my loves, I'm sorry that D isn't going to hook up with any of the cannon characters, but instead my other OC. Why? Because he's older than her, and like many females across the globe, D won't date anyone younger. And for those of you who say 'But Koenma's older!' He has to be stronger, too. In which you will find out in the next chapter how D seems to be single most of her life. Along with other aspects of her past, as well. But you get a spoiler in the opening paragraph of this chapter! Oh, but before you get going, allow me to remind you that words like "/this/" are in English. Okay? Well let's get on with it!**

**Disclaimer: I would never wish that YYH would be mine, for I could never wish something that bad on someone. For their lives would be terrifying and scary, well, things around them would be. Not sure how'd they react, but still, I own nothing. Except D and my other creations, of course.**

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_Wet trails of sadness trickled down her cheeks, staining them. Her blue eyes gushed out the tears, but she couldn't find the energy to scream. She sat there in her dress, lifeless to an extent. Her long brown hair was held back in a dainty bow which acted like a headband, beautiful in the light, but only retaining minimal properties in the dungeon like room. There were people on the other side of the room, a man and a few others calling her name. Brown hair and reddish brown eyes looked at her worriedly from the entrance to the stone room. Her father stood in front of her, guarding her, protecting her. Yet he fell, and her mind raged. His blood shook her frame as it splattered everywhere. It was him who did it, the brown haired one. Her father was killed by that man. She felt her body wretch over, pain racking her from every side. Like the force of a thousand elephants carrying a brick wall, the pain in her head crushed her. And then, she remembered. Yet the darkness soon consumed her as she fell into the brown haired one's arms._

D woke with a start. Feeling something drip down her cheek, she swiped at it, only to realize that she had been crying. Growling in annoyance at herself, she tossed aside her sheets and went to her bathroom. Turning the knob on her sink, she dipped her hands in the cold water and splashed herself in the face a couple times, allowing herself to be brought to her senses. Grabbing a hand towel, she dried her face as she turned off the water. Tossing down the towel as she leaned forward, propping up her body with her hands on her counter, she stared at her reflection in the mirror. The same storm blue eyes that had been crying in the dream glared back at her. Grinding her teeth together, she dug her hands into fists. Why had she been so weak? Why did she need him? She snarled to herself in anger, slamming her fist into the counter. The rattle of her toothbrush and other accessory items clattered, and she clenched her jaw. Throwing herself out of the bathroom, she grabbed a jacket from off the couch and threw it over herself. She practically stormed out of her apartment, barefoot and in her clothes from the day before. She was halfway down the street heading where ever her feet would take her when an idea struck. If she could control people's moods, could she control their thought-process? It might be possible under the right conditioning. She stopped in her tracks, glancing around for her motorcycle. Not seeing it in the vicinity, she headed for the closest portal to the spirit world she could find. There was one beside an old oak tree in a nearby park, she was sure. On her way, she passed an arcade, and didn't even spare a glance at the two familiar forms standing outside it. She walked past them, eyes on the ground, entranced in her thoughts until one of them called her name. Ignoring it, she walked on.

----- With Yuusuke and Kuwabara

Skipping school was habit for Yuusuke, and with Kuwabara mourning the departure of his ice maiden love after the tournament, he now had company. So standing outside of their favorite arcade counting their money, their eyes caught sight of something rather odd. D walked right by them without even a hello, barefoot and in his usual black baggy pants and shirt, with a dark blue zip up hoodie on over it.

"Oi D! You got any spare change?!" Yuusuke yelled to him as he walked to the end of the sidewalk and passed through the road, not even glancing to his sides.

"What's up with him?" Kuwabara asked, even he noting D's odd behavior. Yuusuke shrugged, up for a little adventure.

"Wanna find out?" He asked, already on the move to follow the scientist. Kuwabara nodded, shoving the money he had out in his pocket and following Yuusuke's lead. They followed D into a park, then into a weird portal, which they found led directly to in front of Koenma's office, where D paced back and forth in front of his door. They shared a glance before walking over, about to knock some sense into the scientist, when Koenma's electronic door slid open. D sped inside the room, Yuusuke and Kuwabara following. Yuusuke glanced over his shoulder as Kurama entered the room as well, and he caught the curious gaze the fox sent them, then the wary one that was sent to D. Koenma was stamping his papers, but looked up when D started ranting.

----- D

Her mind raced. "Would it be possible to control one's thinking process?" She continued to pace back and forth. Koenma was about to answer when she continued. "Not on a subconscious level, either. I mean like actual thoughts. It's completely possible to switch someone's moods, but with someone who isn't affected by their personal desires, like say an assassin of sorts, that wouldn't work. But if you could twist their thinking process by intervening and planting things you want them to think, couldn't you be in complete control of them? Would it be possible?" She stopped and stared up at Koenma, but an answer came from behind her.

"You mean like the mind bending maggots in the Makai?" Kurama asked as D swiveled around to face him. She gave him a questioning look, as if she had just become aware of his presence before nodding.

"Almost." She went back to pacing. "Except you wouldn't have to physically enter their bodies. I know that some ancient demon clans are quite capable of it. But I don't think it would be possible for a human, would it? Unless they had an extremely large mental presence, like in the cases of some spiritually gifted people. Could they penetrate another's mind while conscious and plant thoughts into their mind while retaining their own separate thought process?" Koenma furrowed his brows. It was unheard of, and as far as he knew, impossible. But then again, Yuusuke beating Toguro was supposed to be impossible as well. Kurama looked worried, how did D plan on achieving such goals, if indeed that was his plan?

"Never mind, I guess I'll find out. Where are the bankers in this place?" Koenma was shook out of his confusion by the question.

"Second floor, west wing. Why?" He asked, puzzled about D's motives. D shrugged and exited, leaving everyone in the room confused.

"What was that all about? I mean, one minute I'm following the guy, the next he's ranting and I'm lost." Yuusuke looked to Kurama for an explanation, he always seemed to have one.

"I don't know, I was just here to talk to Koenma. Why were you two following him?" Kurama shrugged, then looked to the two fighters. Kuwabara answered.

"He passed us on the street, acting weird. He didn't even respond when Urameshi called his name. So we got curious and followed him. Don't see why he was spouting all this weird stuff though." It was Koenma's turn to explain.

"He was just bouncing ideas. He'll probably be back within a day or two claiming the mastery of another technique or listing reasons why it would be impossible. Who knows, D's an unpredictable person. He does this from time to time." The others just nodded their heads, seeing how it fit D's personality perfectly. "OH!" Koenma yelled, causing the others to snap their heads up in shock. "It just hit me! You guys have a new mission!" Kuwabara slapped his head, as if saying 'I should've known'; and Yuusuke groaned in annoyance. If they had known they would've been given another assignment, they wouldn't have even thought about coming. Kurama, on the other hand, seemed genuinely curious as to what it was. A black form flitted into the room, causing Kuwabara to jump. Realizing it was just Hiei, he sighed in relief as Yuusuke laughed at his jumpiness.

"Hiei? Did they call you too?" Kurama asked the fighter, who nodded.

"What is it this time?" Came the gruff response, not to Kurama, but to the prince. Said prince frowned, but seeing as retorting would get him nowhere, he let the snide comment slide.

"A guest is coming from the American Spirit Force. You four are to make sure he isn't harmed. Though it is said he's a capable fighter, he'd requested to meet you. Said something about 'investigating' or the like. But either way, he is an extremely important guest, one wave of his hand, and we'll be at war. Make sure that you not only keep him safe, but you keep yourselves in line." He then shrugged at the others slightly confused and infuriated looks. "Well, the last part was really for Yuusuke, but that does mean you can't kill him Hiei." Hiei glared at the prince, about to object, when Yuusuke started to fuss.

"Hey! I'm insulted by that, you know!" Hiei snorted.

"That was the point, detective." They glared at each other for a bit before Yuusuke let up. Kurama seemed to have his input as well.

"Shouldn't this be a case for the international branch? Why did he request us, here in Japan? Last I checked, the American and Japanese Spirit Worlds had little contact, why change now?" Koenma sighed, knowing the subject wouldn't be let go easily if he didn't give a complete explanation. Leave it to Kurama to find a flaw in his simple briefing.

"Truth be told, I haven't a clue. Like I said, he told me something about 'investigating' you, or something like that. But try to keep him separate from D, if they find out that we've hired him, they'll probably want in on the deal. Or try to make some sort of alliance, the only option other is to destroy us. Not that that would be a certain thing, but there's the matter of major disagreements between our two forces, and we don't want a war on our hands." His serious gaze caught the groups. "We don't have the forces right now to handle a war against them, make sure it isn't a threat." All of them nodded, with the exception of Hiei, who couldn't give a flip less.

----- D

D sat at the café/lunchroom of the west wing, sipping a coffee while glaring at the table in front of her. She had come to the conclusion that it wasn't possible while she was on the elevator to the second floor. Humans couldn't do it; they didn't have the mental or spiritual capacity to handle the technique. Not even someone like Kuwabara did. She huffed in annoyance, her arms crossed over her chest in a very pouty like way while she sipped a bit more of her coffee. She caught some worried glances and gazes from the other occupants in the room. Most were ogres or ferry girls, on their lunch break. But a few seemingly important people sat at the cheap tables and wobbly chairs discussing paperwork or doing it. She sat in the back of the room, at a two-seat table. Her cake would be here any minute. She continued to glare daggers into the table; if she had laser vision the table would be nothing but a pile of hot goo at her feet. The waitress came by and sat the cake in front of her, not asking anything. Her life depended on not asking the wrong questions to intolerant customers, she the whole staff just kept silent for the most part. Walking away, she went on to the next customer, an oblivious D picking up the fork and shoving a bite of the red velvet down her throat. Tossing her head back as she drank the last of her coffee, she growled in annoyance. Yet another plan down the drain, again.

"Well, you're not in the best of moods I take it." Yuusuke's voice sounded from behind her. Her eye twitched as her grip on the paper cup in her hands crumpled it, a growl escaped her lips. Yuusuke came and sat in the chair across from her, raising an eyebrow at her reaction. "Or you're just in a really bad one. Plan not go so well?" He asked, eyeing her cake. Suddenly, she didn't feel hungry anymore, so she pushed it towards him, an offer he was all too happy to except.

"No, it didn't. But at least I've got plenty of other things to practice on, so my mind can't be wondering." Yuusuke nodded, already halfway done with the cake.

"Oh, you can't be seen around us for a week or so, just wanted to tell you that." D raised an eyebrow, was that what he wanted? He didn't just come to her for her cake? Before she could ask why, he further explained. "We've got a new mission concerning some guy from the American Spirit Force and the toddler doesn't want to start anything so he wants us to keep you two separate. Something about them not liking your research or them wanting in on it." D's laughter rang out in the cafeteria. Her head threw itself back, and she clutched her belly, the rumble gaining her glances from others at other tables. Yuusuke blinked in shock, what the hell was wrong with D? "Um… you okay?" He asked, worried about the other's sanity, this is the first time there had been an issue with it.

"Y-yeah…" Her laughter eventually died down. "It- it's just the irony!" She burst out laughing again, this time tears perking at her eyes. Yuusuke waited for the other's 'episode' to end, and in time, it did.

"Irony?" She nodded, gathering herself together, wiping the tears from her eyes.

"Did you know I'm an American?" She asked him, and took his shocked and confused gaze for a no. "Well, being one, they were the first I offered my services to. It was a dead out 'no', and they would've killed me for even speaking up for such 'preposterous ideas' if it wasn't for the fact that I had too many connections for them to make a clean case. So after threatening me with the death sentence if I showed my face around them again, they sent me away. Not even a week later the Japanese Spirit Force hired me and here I am." He nodded, brows tugged together.

"But why would they have killed you?" She shrugged with a small smile.

"Another story for another time, perhaps." He frowned, but knowing he wouldn't get an answer on the topic anymore, he switched it.

"You can't be American, you don't even have an accent." She snorted, and Yuusuke finished the cake waiting for her to explain. She pulled her cheek back and opened her mouth. On the left side, one of the molars had been replaced by something green and electrical.

"Helps me speak anything I want to say in any language it has programmed." She dropped her mouth and wiped the saliva off on her pants. "Got some implants in my eyes to do the same for reading. But there isn't anything to help one write, that's why I write in English and such." His eyes went wide.

"What? I didn't know they had such advanced technology here!" She scoffed, and rested her cheek in her hand.

"Do you really think I got it here in the Spirit World? _Legally?_" He slapped his face, he should've known.

"Ya know, I've never really seen you make any deals with any shady people and such. Hell, aren't you a mercenary? Shouldn't you be going on jobs?" She gave him a half-hearted smile.

"Don't have time." Then her face turned into a 'you're an idiot' look. "And you will never catch me doing anything illegal or shady. I'm far too clever for that." He rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, modest too." She grinned and stood up, him watching her with lazy but curious eyes. "Where you goin'?"

"Genkai's. I've got a feeling a certain ice demoness is staying there and I want to meet her. Haven't got the real pleasure yet." His eyes widened. Yukina was at Genkai's? He furrowed his brows.

"How you know that?" Her grin spread.

"I told you, you'll never catch me." With that, she walked away searching for a ferry girl on duty that could give her a portal. Yuusuke sweatdropped, he'd get her eventually. But until then, he'd have to find someone to pay for the bill D just left him with.

----- Later

"So, your name's Yukina, right?" The ice apparition before her nodded. It was all D could do to keep herself from glomping the adorable girl; her feminine instincts were almost getting the best of her. "You seem sweet. What do you think of the others?" A smile appeared on her face from the compliment.

"Oh, they're all really nice. Kazuma-kun acts a little weird though." D couldn't help the smile that came across her face. The human had the biggest crush she'd ever seen on the ice maiden. It was sweet, though she couldn't help but notice Hiei was slightly protective of Yukina. But of course, a little digging through the Spirit World records had given a clear answer as to why.

"Thank you." Yukina and D said in unison as Genkai brought them tea. Yukina giggled at the similarity in thought, while D chuckled slightly. Their conversation continued from there, moving on to the tournament, to the boat ride back, to Yukina's hunt for her brother. D noted Yuusuke's energy as the front entrance to the temple slammed open then shut. Kuwabara had followed in, quieter than the one before him, and D sensed Hiei's energy in a nearby tree outside the temple.

"Oi Grandma! You're getting visitors!" Yuusuke yelled as he barged in the room, having all three others attention on him.

"Well, dimwit, you going to give further explanation?" Genkai snapped, and Kuwabara came into the room, automatically cooing over Yukina, though D paid more attention to the conversation between master and apprentice.

"Forgot his name, but what's-his-face is the person from the American Spirit World that was coming for a little 'investigation' of us. He said he wanted to meet you, but since I knew D was here, we tried to keep him away. But he kept on insisting, so eventually we caved in." His attention turned to D. "Just make yourself scarce." D's eye twitched, and she opened her mouth for a snappy comeback. Her eyes widened at the energy that was approaching the temple with Kurama beside it. She recognized him immediately.

"Deacon." She growled, and everyone in the room was shocked at the ferocity in her voice.

"You know him?" Kuwabara asked, confirming everyone's thoughts on who was with Kurama, approaching the main entrance quickly.

"I'll fucking kill him." She stood and exited the room, everyone blinking then following after. Her fist shook with rage, her jaw clinched and teeth gritting against each other. It was all she could do to not stomp down the hall.

"Have you ever seen him this angry, because I haven't." Yuusuke asked Genkai, who shrugged and followed D. Her property was probably about to get some serious damage.

"Deacon? Isn't that the person who D-san was writing to on the boat?" An expression of revelation came over everyone's faces, how did they not notice that? D continued her trek down the hall until she got to the main gate, her fury showing in the way she slammed the door open. Before her was Kurama, maybe ten feet away, not reaching the stairs yet. It looked like he stopped in mid-step to stare at the scary sight. In fact, D was a scary sight. He had purposely disobeyed her letter, so she was going to give him a piece of her mind.

"ASSWIPE!!! WHERE THE IN THE SEVEN HELLS ARE-" She was cut off by something attaching itself around her waist, or rather someone. "-you?" She finished as she was knocked to the ground, sprawled out on her back, the someone on top of her. Her head knocked back and hit the floor, the world spinning around her.

"/Demmy! My love! I've missed you so!/" A rather familiar voice echoed in D's head, she was hardly aware of the position she was in. Something was smothering itself into her chest. On top of her. Something clicked in her head as she blinked herself out of her daze. Her mind though, was having trouble keeping up.

"Wha?"

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**I want to thank Kiyoshi Kozue for getting me off my sleepy and tired butt and getting me to work on this. Really? I was overwhelmed with joy and plot bunnies the moment I read your review, thank you again. *bow* As for the rest of you who don't review****, Getcha butts up an do it!!!! ****Seriously? I will come through this computer!**

**P.s. jackinafrikinbox, the egg is shaking!!! YAY!!! What should I name it? I'm thinking something weird but creative and awesome!**

**P.s.s., Deacon is pronounced "Dee-kuhn", don't worry, he has a nickname that we'll go by….. eventually…**


	10. The Meeting!

**Holy Cow! Double Digits already! Well, I'm not going to stall, so here's the chapter! Next one's all about the past, loves so enjoy the cannons while you can!**

**Disclaimer: Do I have to say it? I own nothing but my OCs and plot!**

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"_Wha?"_

Deacon grinned at the girl beneath him. Her actions were so adorable, or at least they would be. If the girl wasn't wearing wrappings around the chest and a hoodie to hide her figure. Tight pants would look a lot better on her, he decided. Not that he hadn't always known, of course.

"D!" The group around them seemed to yell in unison. So that was her alias? Well crap, he'd already screwed that up now didn't he?

"Eh? Is something wrong?" He asked down to the girl beneath him, who had stars floating around her head, and dizzy circles over her eyes. She seemed to take a moment to gather her sight, but her mind was still trying to catch up.

"Of course he isn't alright! Get off of him!" Yuusuke yelled, angry that this newcomer attacked his friend. Deacon raised an eyebrow, 'he' and 'him' didn't sound like the person he was on top of. He chose to ignore the teen detective.

"Demmy, come to already so I can kiss ya without a guilty conscious of takin' advantage of ya." The group around the two seemed stunned that he would say such a thing. Even the little fire demon that had flitted in earlier was speechless. Deacon grinned inwardly while sending a worried look to the girl beneath him; that was just what he wanted. D blinked again, wondering why the ceiling was so far away. Wait, why was she looking at the ceiling anyway? Her dizzy head checked off the guy on top of her. He was sitting on her stomach. His short brown hair was shaggy, a couple shades darker than her own. His redish brown eyes were filled with worry as he gazed down at her. False worry, something seemed to snap in her head. The idiot was playing head games again. Her eyes shot open as her arm followed the movement, a punch landing straight on his nose as she sat up. She growled, and hardly noticed the confused and worried looks the group around her gave as she stood up. She dusted herself off again before catching sight of the guy that had flown right out of the temple. He shook his head to get the dust out of his hair as he stood as well. Having flown back ten or so meters, rolling another five, he was pretty dirty.

"Oi asshole, didn't I warn you to keep the hell away from here?" She asked in a dangerous tone, though it didn't seem to faze him at all. The others watched the exchange closely, how did they know each other? He grinned at her, showing off his flawlessly white teeth with slightly sharpened canines.

"But I missed you _so_ much! I couldn't help but want to see you!" He said, clasping his hands and swooning. "So I came!" Her eye twitched as her fist tightened, he was going to pay for not heeding her warning. Seeing her scary look and dangerous aura, he raised his hands in defense. "Hey! I had no idea that the demon would hurt the human girl like that! I can't control their every move you know! Besides, I haven't sent another one, have I? It's just me this time! I swear!" She appeared in front of him in an instant, her fist crashing down on his head, causing it to smash into the ground. She picked up her foot and dug it into his scalp, pushing his head into the dirt.

"Don't be an idiot!" She hissed, but considered his words. It was true, it would be impossible to control another's actions completely, a lesson she learned just earlier that day. She didn't sense any other people in the area either, with the exception of the team behind her. So he was telling the truth, she could forgive him for that. She kicked his head up from the ground, looking him in the eye. "Don't do it again. You have to apologize to Keiko-chan, as well." He nodded, still grinning that idiot grin of his.

"YOU'RE A CHICK?!?!?!"

----- With the team from D's tackle

Yuusuke and the others seemed to stare in amazement. 'What the hell was going on?' seemed to be the thoughts on all of their minds. There, on top of one of the most dangerous people they knew, was a guy. A guy they had never met before an hour ago. For Genkai, an idiot who just revealed D's biggest secret. For Yukina, an odd male, who seemed to have an odd mixture of an aura. For all of them: a pervert. Who else but a pervert would tackle someone just to demand they get up so he could 'kiss them without a guilty conscious'? And why did he call D 'Demmy'? It was a rather feminine name to call someone. D got up, punching the guy through the open doorway. Hiei seemed to be the first to put the pieces together.

"So the 'he' is a 'she'? How the hell did we get tricked?" Yuusuke's and Kuwabara's eyes widened, having been slower to think about it. Kurama and Yukina seemed to take the information calmer, while Genkai seemed to not care at all. Something only Hiei and Kurama noticed. Yuusuke and Kuwabara seemed to be thinking on the right track, because they yelled the same thing at the same time.

"YOU'RE A CHICK?!?!?!"

----- Everyone

D felt her eye twitch as she mentally cursed to herself. Cursing the now standing idiot in front of her, too. She sent a glare. "You see what you did? I kept them fooled for almost a year now, then you come in and ruin it. Good job, smart one." She spoke sarcastically but in a rough tone.

"Well now, tell me your alias, I'll keep to your alias. But you didn't even tell me that in your letter, now did you? You know me too well for such a vague piece of writing." Seeing her glare and walk back towards the entrance to the temple, he followed. "Hey now! Don't be like that!" He winced as her aura struck out at him, daring him to speak again without her permission. Sighing, he followed the girl inside. He was a head taller than her, her being of average height. It put him at about the Kuwabara's height. He had learned their names when they introduced themselves to each other earlier on that day.

"Yes, I'm a 'chick', about time you figured it out." She practically spat out as she passed them in the hallway, going for the room that held her tea. Surprisingly, everyone followed her, except Yukina, who went to get enough tea for everyone.

"Really now, I thought you would keep them fooled forever." Genkai stated as she walked ahead of the group, but behind D. D raised a brow.

"When did you find out?" The lady shrugged.

"When you sent me to get the bandages for Yuusuke's foot I accidentally found my way into your closet." D sweatdropped as the others shook their heads, 'accidentally' huh?

"How do you know D?" Yuusuke finally asked, breaking the silence in the hall as he spoke to the newcomer.

"Well, it's really a funny story-"

"Not it's not. It's hardly less than annoying." D didn't turn around as she spoke, but Deacon stopped to make his snarky response.

"Everything's annoying to you when you got a stick shoved up your ass." D stopped and swerved around to glare up at him in the eyes. The others watched the moves carefully. "I mean, when you're in a bad mood, that is." She seemed to accept the comment as she turned back around and entered the room. Deacon hesitated as he spoke to the others. "Or when she's pissy." Yuusuke and Kuwabara burst out laughing, but stopped when Deacon's arms came up and caught the blade aimed at his head. It was a switchblade, they noticed, and Deacon still smirked. He tossed the knife back to its owner, who caught it in the same fashion. "Be careful with your blades." D's glare hardened.

"Be careful of what you say." Everyone filed in, either sitting on the mats around a small wooden table or leaning against the wall. Deacon chose the wall across from where D was sitting, knowing that if he left her eyesight he'd be in for it. A threat is a threat, not matter how small or seemingly innocent. Not that Deacon was either of those. And that seemed to sink in well with the others in the room. He had tan arms and skin, looking like he could go on even in an arm wrestle against Yuusuke. He wore a black beater and long black baggy pants. Kurama seemed to be the first to notice the similarities between Deacon and D.

"So you two trained together?" The question caught the two asked by surprise, as they looked at him as if asking 'what all do you know?'. D sighed, figuring she should be the one to tell. Deacon beat her to the punch yet again, though.

"Nah, I graduated from all the training classes and stuff a year or so before I even met her."

"And how'd you meet?" Kuwabara asked. Deacon grinned as D massaged her temples.

"Shall I tell him? Or do you want the pleasure?" D glared at him through her hand. His grin widened. "It's your choice, _Demmy_." He drew out her nickname, drawing confused looks from those around.

"So Demmy's your real name?" D sighed and clapped her hands over her face, sighing irritably. Deciding she didn't really care either way, she started stirring her tea with her power, finger circling over the liquid.

"No, they're both nicknames of sorts. And you can tell them, I'm impartial to the idea of them knowing my past." She stopped stirring the liquid and looked at Deacon pointedly. "/If ya tell 'em anythin' I don' wan'em to know, you'll pay./" He waved her off, not meaning any harm.

"Okay, I'll leave last year's Christmas out of it. I'm sure they already know what you're like when you're drunk. Oops, did I say that in Japanese?" He asked, placing a hand on his cheek in fake concern, gaining wide-eyed stares from the others. He'd seen D _drunk_? She shot him one last glare before stirring her tea again, focusing on the green liquid.

"I'm actually more shocked about the fact that he hasn't killed you yet than the fact you saw him drunk. Oh, shit, she. Yeah, she's a she." Yuusuke seemed to be confirming it to himself as Deacon raised an eyebrow at his odd behavior.

"She _can't _kill me_. _Not possible. Well now, where should I start?" Deacon asked, scratching his head almost playfully.

"What do you mean?" Hiei spoke up, curious as to why the dangerous mercenary couldn't kill whoever she wanted. Deacon shrugged, not one to brag or boast about the subject. D glowered at the cup, as if it was the source of all her problems. If Deacon didn't tell them, she had to.

"Because he has the force of the entire American Spirit Force behind him. If I killed him, they would be on my tail quicker than you could blink. Even if I didn't kill him, they would probably blame his death on me." Deacon sent her a pity filled look while the others watched in silence. He spoke up, defending the girl's reputation.

"And that's yet another reason why you quit, right?" Though the cover of her departure was quickly made up, and the others seemed to accept it, D just shrugged. She glanced at him, both thinking the same thing.

_But why can't we just be happy?_ Their looks separated, both going to either the ground or the cup. At that moment, Yukina walked in with the tea, and everyone sat for a minute, sipping it quietly.

"So," The demon started, never one for silences, "how did you two meet?" Deacon's grin was back on his face in an instant, and D shook her head in slight amusement.

"Where should I start?" He asked, eyeing the ceiling as if it held his memories.

"The beginning." Most in the room seemed to say at once. Deacon chuckled and D sweatdropped, so they were all curious?

"Alright. Let's see, that was about three years ago?" He asked D, wondering if he had the time right. She shrugged again.

"Three, maybe four. First month of high school, right?" He nodded and took a quick sip of his tea.

"Yeah, you were a weird one. Ninth grade all honors and you didn't even show up to school half the time. Not it matters; you were too smart for that place. Hell, if half the kids there gave some effort, they would be too." D raised a brow and tilted her head from side to side, as if saying that were half true.

"Hold up, you played hooky?" Yuusuke asked, astonished the girl was the type to do that. D grinned.

"Yeah, those were the days. Did whatever I wanted whenever I wanted. Didn't listen to nobody, the world seemed so simple then." She picked up her cup and took a sip, placing it back down, Deacon started up again.

"Well, it was August of your ninth grade year, high school freshman. You stupid genius. I noticed your energy right away, I was a scout back then, searching for the latest human talent…"

----- ----- ----- -----

A girl with shoulder length light brown hair and dark blue eyes sulked into her high school. People around her whispered and gossiped, some glancing at her, others ignoring her existence. Not that she minded, she like being left alone. Hell, she planned on being a hermit when she got through high school. Maybe then the world would leave her the hell alone. She walked through the halls, tiles white and gray, walls decorated with things supposed to raise school spirit. It was her third day in the school, and she already hated it. It was Tuesday; the second week school was open. The August heat made the cool air in the hallways and classrooms seems like a haven, but anywhere with people was a hell to her. She preferred the heat, flourished in it actually. She could lay out on her front porch and nap the day away, only getting up to eat, and cook for her mom when she got off work. But here in the school, which she affectionately named a brick-walled living hell, she had to deal with the teachers nagging her and the students gossiping on and on about her. She trudged down the hall, dragging her sneaker-clad feet. There were no school uniforms, but there were dress policies, so everyone mostly wore what they wanted. She chose her usual, day to day outfit. Jeans ripped at the knees whose holes had been bandaged up with duct tape so she wouldn't be called out hugged her hips and dragged against the floor. A light blue short sleeved T shirt hung loosely from her body, covering any trace of her womanhood. Her figure, not that one could see it, was average. She didn't have excessive areas anywhere on her, but she wasn't extremely skinny, either. She liked her body, however annoying it was, because she didn't look like either a squid (the too-skinny ones at her school) or an octopus (the too-big ones at her school). Yes, she liked her appearance, though not to the point of bragging all the time about it. So with her blue and green school bag slung over her shoulder, she entered her homeroom. Students sat in their desks or on the ones close to their friends, laughing and joking around. It disgusted her, really, all the teenagers she considered idiots. She walked over to her desk in the back of the room, tossing her bag on the floor beside it. Slipping into the seat, she rested her head in her arms, lying on the desk. She wasn't trying to sleep; she just wanted to rest her eyes. She wasn't used to having to look at so many people, after all. Sighing contently as she snuggled deeper in her arms, she felt her eye and arms twitch at the presence of someone sitting in the desk in front of her. Nobody sat there usually, or at least what she thought was usually (she wasn't in school often enough to know), and looking up, she glared at the menace who sat facing her, looking at her as if she were some science experiment he was bored with.

"The hell you want?" She asked, and even though her arms muffled her words, she was sure the message got through clearly. He shrugged and continued starring at her with his odd eyes. They were a redish brown color, she noticed. Her eyes narrowed, wondering what the freak wanted with her. She didn't like socializing.

"Deacon." He said, catching the girl by surprise with his even voice. She didn't let up her glare. "That's my name, if you need explanation." He said, and the girl practically growled her response.

"I don't care _who_ you are, I want to know _why_ you're staring at me." He shrugged, not fazed by the girl's outrage. It only made her angrier.

"Everyone else was doing it, so I figured I'd get a better look up close." His words didn't seem to catch her by surprise, but only further angered her as she looked around the room, finding his words to be true. She 'tch'ed and got up quickly, deciding she didn't want any more of the nonsense. Shoving her bag over her shoulder, she was fully aware of the stares she got as she started out the room. Pushing open the door, she stopped as the teacher in front of her gave her a look of scolding.

"Leaving so soon, Demmy? Class hasn't even started." She asked, in full control of the situation. Mental cursing on her bad luck, Demmy turned on her heel and walked back to her desk. Sitting down, she pulled out a notebook and a pen. Every other student returned to their seat, and the guy that had been questioning her earlier had turned around to face his desk. She began drawing in her notebook. "Nice to see you're staying. Why haven't you been here the past week?" Demmy looked up at the teacher, giving her a 'you're joking' look. Seeing as how the adult wouldn't budge, she answered in the most controlled way possible, yet her response still seemed smart-mouthed.

"Didn't feel like it." The teacher just nodded her head, and turned to her whiteboard, writing away some math problem.

"Since you don't feel like coming, you must already know the material. What's the answer to this equa-"

"C to the fourth power over N." She answered, not looking up from her notebook. At the teacher's shocked and disbelieving look, Demmy looked to the board, skimming over the complex material before nodding to herself. "Check it if you want, I already did that chapter in the book." The ever-calm teacher's jaw locked, and whispers started to pass through the room. Demmy was hardly aware of the guy in front of her looking over his shoulder at her. His eyes seemed curious, and Demmy caught his gaze before shifting it to her notebook, continuing her drawing. She didn't, however, catch his shocked expression when he saw what she was drawing. He went back to his work, and the end of class came far too slow for Demmy's liking. At least next class was art, she could handle that teacher much better than the one for math.

"Hey!" A male voice yelled, and she looked over her shoulder at the teenager who looked down to her while jogging to catch up with her. It was the same guy from the class room, she noticed, just now taking in his height and stature. He was a good foot and a half or two taller than her, and had a better build than most guys in her school. She eyed him, wondering what he wanted. Yet not curious enough to find out, she turned back on her heel and continued her trek down the hallway. He rolled his eyes at her elusive behavior. What, was she playing hard to get? "I said 'hey'." He said as she grabbed her around her small bicep, his hand wrapping around it and halting her further efforts to get him away.

"And that is for horses, now let me go." She said, anger filling her voice as she tried to tug away. He rolled his eyes again.

"Stop acting like a child and come with me, I want to talk to you." She glared, something he noticed she had a habit of.

"Let me go. I want nothing to do with you, so walk away before I start hurting something. In this case, it would be you." He raised an eyebrow, the talked pretty big for something so small. His grip loosened the slightest, and she tugged away, walking down the hallway.

"Okay, if anyone asks, I tried being the nice guy." He shrugged to himself before catching up with her and snapping his hand to the back of her neck, effectively taking her off guard and knocking her out. Picking up her light body, he slung her over his shoulder and proceeded to walk out of the high school, gaining many weird looks along the way, but managing to evade all teachers.

----- ----- ----- -----

"And that's our epic tale of meeting!" Deacon said, clasping his hands together. "Any questions?" He asked, looking about the room.

"So Demmy's the name you go by in the human world?" Kurama asked D, who nodded, mood slightly lifted from the amusing memories of that day.

"Man, you were a bitch." Yuusuke didn't hesitate to point out. "Had some real anger issues too." D's eye twitched, not liking the last part.

"Excuse me?" She asked, drawing out the syllables. "I didn't know you had room to talk." Yuusuke grinned, proud of them nonetheless.

"Not as bad as the shimp's though." Kuwabara pointed out, shoving his thumb at Hiei.

"Do you have a death wish idiot, or do you want me to remove that thumb of yours?" Hiei prodded, glaring at the human. He held the hilt of his sword dangerously.

"Their bickering reminds me of your brother and sister's." Deacon pointed out, eyeing the demon and human with a raised brow. His gaze then turned to Kurama. "And his eyes look just like hers too." D looked up, sending a look that said, 'shut up' to Deacon, who shrugged it off. "Just sayin' ya know. I can see why you fancy them so much. It's just like your family back in-" His voice was cut off by the switchblade that embedded itself into the wall beside his throat. Sighing, he pulled it out and closed it, tossing it back to D, who caught it with ease. The air in the room turned wary, and D turned her attention back to her now empty cup.

"It's not your place to speak of such things." She stood and walked out of the room, not bothering with explanation. Shutting the door behind her, she headed home.

"Jeez, what's her problem?" Yuusuke asked, turning his attention from the door to Deacon. The guy shrugged, pulling out his own switchblade and tossing it open then shut, as if calculating something. All in the room noticed it's similarities to the one D had and used.

"She can be sensitive at subjects like that. She chose to leave her family and life behind to work for the Spirit World, a decision I'm not sure if she regrets or not. But," Deacon flipped his blade open, eyeing the engraved eagle on it. It was soaring through the sky, free of all bonds. "I think you guys deserve to know her story. Whether she wishes to tell or not." He looked to the door and shut his blade, slipping it into his pants pocket. Kurama raised a brow, but didn't fight the man's decision to give away D's secrets.

"So how did it go from you carrying her off to her being the most dangerous mercenary on the market?" Deacon sighed, and decided to choose his words carefully. It would be a long story.

----- D

D entered her apartment, not bothering with locking the door behind her. She knew full and well that Deacon would probably want to sleep at her house, so she'd let him have her coach. Grabbing a comforter and pillow from her own room, she laid them on the coach. Sighing, she then went into the kitchen and made herself some dinner, it was a quarter past eight after all, and she hadn't eaten since three. So fixing some hamburger helper, she covered the leftovers and put them on a plate, knowing her old friend would be hungry. So going into her room, she collapsed on her bed. Frowning at the uncomfortable feeling of her switchblade in her pants pocket, she went ahead and tossed off her pants all together. Tearing off the hoodie, she sat up in her bed. Reaching under her shirt, she allowed the wrappings to fall from her chest. Pushing all of her clothes off her bed, she dug under her covers in her underwear and shirt, completely comfortable in the outfit. She snuggled into her pillow, allowing it to help her slide into the wonders of dream world.


	11. American Humor, with a side of Eggs

**As Usual, I'm terribly, terribly sorry. I hope you like the chapter, the next one will be about D meeting the Ripper, and Deacon telling more of D's story. Love you all very much for giving this so much attention. See you next chapter!**

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Deacon glanced at Demmy over the top of the folder he was holding. It held her file, and yet, catching the glare from the teenager, he sighed. She'd been deathly silent as she glared at him, it was starting to creep him out. Her hands were tied behind her back, ankles wrapped in the same knot. She sat against an old oak tree in the town park they were at. "Okay, I get the point. I'll untie you if you stop glaring at me. If you promise not to scream, run, or hit me again."

He could tell she didn't even think about his offer as she sat under the tree in the town park. Her gaze narrowed even further, a sign that showed she was as ready as a viper to attack. If he had come to believe her gaze couldn't get any worse, well, he was wrong. Her jaw tightened as she thought of all the wondrous ways to kill the man before her. He sighed and rolled his eyes again, not noticing it was becoming a pattern between the two of them. He'd say something, she'd glare and keep silent, he'd sigh and roll his eyes.

"You do know that your eyes aren't going to shoot bullets at me, or fry me right? No matter how hard you glare, it isn't going to hurt me." Her expression stayed the same. Seeing as his attempts were still in vain, he went back to her file. Finding absolutely nothing interesting, he looked to her backpack. It laid beside her, undisturbed from the place he tossed it to, exactly to the girl's right. Remembering what he had seen in one of her notebooks, he tossed the file down on the ground, stood up from his place in the dirt, and walked over to the bag. He noticed that Demmy tensed as he came close, and her eyes never left him. _Well at least she has some fighting sense,_ he thought as he began to dig through her bag.

"What're you looking for?" She drawled, not liking the disrespect to her privacy. He shot her a look of mock surprise.

"Oh! It speaks!" Her gaze went back to a glare, causing him to roll his eyes yet again. "Calm down your highness, I'm just searching for what you were drawing earlier." He kept digging through her bag, finally finding the notebook she had earlier.

"Why?" Her question was answered with a look that spoke intolerance as he drew out the notebook and began to flip through it. "You're not going to find it." He raised an eyebrow as he looked to her, seeing that the pages of the notebook were filled with other doodles, yet not the one he was searching for.

"And why's that?" His eyes narrowed as her face dropped her glare, insisting on a rather impartial look. He tossed the notebook back into the bags.

"You answer my question first." His jaw locked as he stood, sick and tired of the job he was on already. He looked down at the girl, both staring with mild interest at the other's motives.

"Because I'm interested in it." His answer, though he knew it didn't satisfy her, was responded with another answer.

"Because I tossed it in the trash." His glare was met with another, just as strong as before. They kept at it for awhile, neither letting up their looks of distaste and distrust.

"Well princess, seeing as this conversation is getting nowhere, I think we should call it a day. I'll let you loose if you tell me how much you know about spirits." The look in her eyes changed slightly before going back to their usual state. He noticed the flicker of life, though, and he wasn't going to let it go.

"Why do you want to know?" He squatted down in front of her, looking at her eye to eye.

"Because whether I kill you or offer you a job depends on your answer." He could feel her aura fluctuate sharply, before going back down to its normal state. He raised an eyebrow as it seemed she rolled over what to say in her head.

"They're real." Her answer was short and simple, and something in it sparked his interest.

"Good, most of you don't even know that much. You see, if you had answered, oh I don't know, something like 'I command an army of the dead and am going to kill you', I'd have to lessen the world of one more spoiled brat." Her reaction showed nothing as he pulled out his switchblade, its metal gleaming dangerously in the light of the setting sun. Her eyes trailed to it, looking at the eagle that was engraved with minimum interest. Her muscles involuntarily tensed as he brought it near to her feet, cutting the ropes he had used to keep her from running. She didn't loosen up a bit as he began on the hands, either. She watched him carefully. The male was close enough to her that she could smell him, and God, did he smell good. She hated it, despising the fact that the enemy was so good-looking; she promised herself she wouldn't fall for him. After, she'd never date an idiot, and that was clearly what he was.

He pulled the knife across the ropes a couple times, the blade slicing through with ease, when his eyes caught sight of her wrist. He raised a brow as he grabbed her arm and turned it over, exposing the pale flesh. Around her wrist was a deep grey mark, about five inches thick. The mark of a high-energy demon Spirit, if he remembered correctly from his days at the academy. His features tightened as he put the knife in his pocket with his left hand and kept a hold of her wrist with his right. Demmy squirmed uncomfortably, why was he staring at her wrist like that? Nothing was wrong with it. Was there something she couldn't see? Deacon's left hand came up and took hold of the wrist, his right thumb stroking the vein that went into her hand along inside the gray area. Demmy took the chance to jerk her hand back, not liking him touching her. His eyes widened as he snapped out of the curious trance he was just in, and found disdain-filled blue eyes easily enough. His eyes narrowed as he put the pieces together.

"You know more than you're telling." Her expression dropped as she stood, holding her left wrist in her hand carefully. She practically sneered down at him as she grabbed her bag and slung it over her shoulder.

"Bye." She huffed, walking away from her new-found worst enemy. He glared at her back as he stood, detesting her for her uncooperativeness.

"Meet me at lunch tomorrow!" He yelled after her, growling to himself as he got no response. Walking over to where he threw the file down, he huffed as he sat rejected. Opening his blue and black cell phone, he dialed the number from heart, and he felt his eyes twitch when the person on the other side of the line actually picked up. A boyish and lazy voice spoke monotonously, drawling his words.

"Welcome to Magic Girls Service line, where all your fantasies come true. When you wish to start our top-notch program, please press one, where a small starting fee will be deducted and the timing will start. Please-" It took all the self-restraint in the world not to snap the phone in half.

"Put the bitch on the line. Now." His sounded huskily into the device.

"Ooooh? Deacon? Calling back so soon? You want to quit already do you? Too bad, such a great fighter gone to waste, here, I'll put you on speaker phone." A beep sounded as Deacon's eye twitched. "Liiisaaa… Deacon wants to quiiit…." The voice whined to the other occupant in the room. A female's voice came in then, sounding sweet and angry at the same time.

"What?! Already?! How could he? Such a waste! It's not every day I see such a fine piece of-"

"By God! I'm NOT Quitting! Stop assuming Stupid Things!" He all but screamed into the device. It didn't damper the spirits of the other two, though.

"Oh? Then you found one?" The lazy one sounded as if he was slightly excited, but Deacon couldn't tell through the phone.

"Really?! Is he good-looking? A nice experiment?!" The girl sounded closer to the phone now, as if she had ran over hurriedly.

"SHE is FAR from good-looking, is extremely hot-headed, AND has been in close contact with the spirit of a demon. I'll send the file to you later, okay? I'm just following instructions." He flipped the phone shut, not wanting to her their response. Standing up, he started on his way back to the hotel he was staying at.

-----

Deacon took a breather from his story. His audience was listening intently, enough so that when he cleared his throat they looked at him as if he had used a knife to cut the silence. Except a lot more dull and unnecessary.

"And this is where I leave you to your ponderings as I must go to sleep." Yuusuke's attentive face fell.

"Whaaaat?" He drawled, feeling sleep lagging at him as well, but ignoring it. "You can't just leave us there…" Deacon chuckled.

"Ah but I must get going. It's a while from where I'm staying, and I'm sure my food is far past cold by now." He stood and brushed off his pants, Kurama gave him a curious look.

"Just where are you staying?" The question was met with a smirk.

"Nowhere important." Scolding looks fell upon him.

"You're going to break into D's aren't you?" He faked a look of shock as he walked to the door.

"Why, Heaven's no! I would never do such a thing to my dear, dear friend!" Hiei scoffed.

"You're an idiot if you think she'll let you in." Deacon sent the demon a dry look while sliding the door open.

"You obviously don't know her too well if you think she didn't leave the door unlocked." With that he walked out of the room and shut the door behind him, footsteps silent as he walked down the hall. A short silence engulfed the room before it was broken by Kuwabara.

"Do you think they've got something going on?" He asked, and all eyes turned to him.

"Pssh, him and D? That's like oil and water. No way." Yuusuke answered for the group, Kurama nodding his agreement while Hiei cast a curious glance at the door.

"It's possible."

----- D's

D woke from another nightmare, the blood fading from her vision as she blinked away the tears. Bringing a hand up to rub the crusties out of her eye, she froze when Deacon appeared in front of her, squatting over her legs on her bed. He gruffly grabbed her hand and pulled it away from her face. D, still being half asleep, only managed a slurred 'huh' when he pulled back her eyelids to inspect her pupils.

"Tch, why haven't you been taking your medicine?" D was slowly starting to wake up as she got the brains to glare at him and form an articulate sentence.

"Because it kills my ideas; I can't work when I'm on it." She jerked her hand away and stood up, pushing him and the covers away. Deacon slapped a hand over his face when he noticed what she was wearing; or rather what she wasn't.

"Go put some clothes on." He commanded when he felt her walk off the bed.

"I am, smart one." She retorted, shuffling through her closet for whatever looked comfortable. Still half asleep, she didn't even think twice as she pulled on black baggy pants that clinched at her ankle and held three pockets on each leg. Pulling her shirt over her head, she felt Deacon's eyes start to wonder toward her. "Keep them closed or I'll permanently close them for you." The feeling stopped immediately. She pulled her shirt over her head and grabbed clean wrappings she held on the wall of her closet. The job didn't take five seconds as she picked out a maroon red shirt that was so baggy it fell off one of her shoulders. Not even bothering to tell him she was done, she walked out of the room and into the kitchen. Ducking her head to get a good look at what was in the fridge, she grabbed a carton of orange juice. Standing back up, she unwound the fresh gallon and pressed it to her lips, feeling the glorious liquid lap down her throat. Once her thirst was quenched, she screwed on the top and placed it back in the fridge. A knock on the door came almost in sync with when she grabbed a frying pan off the rack on the ceiling.

"Can you get that?" D asked as Deacon came into the room. He nodded and walked over to the door. The lock clicked out of place as he twisted the silver handle. Pulling the door open, D's view was blocked when Deacon leaned in the doorway.

"Hey cutie, what'cha doin' with a thug like him?" Deacon asked to the mystery people at the door. D put the pan down on the stove top and walked around the bar and counter to the door.

"Who is it?" She asked as she pulled the door open further with her right hand and pushed him out of the way with her left. Yuusuke stood beside Keiko, him looked pissed and her looking embarrassed. She nodded to both of them in turn.

"Hey, we we're wondering if you two wanted to come by Gankai-sama's today. She said she needed to talk to you, D." Keiko smiled at the girl as she spoke, but sent a curious glance toward Deacon, who stood behind D, leaning on the door. Deacon suggestively put him arms around D's waist, pulling himself in close.

"Hm, but didn't you say we could have this day all to ourselves hun? I mean, I got the hand-cuffs and everything already." Keiko blushed as Yuusuke's jaw dropped. D rolled her eyes as Keiko stammered for something to say.

"I-I'm sorry. We'll co-come back tomorrow, o-okay? W-we didn't mean to –uh, um _interrupt_." Without waiting for the girl to leave, D shoved her elbow into Deacon's stomach, sending him stumbling back and groaning slightly as he ground his teeth in pain.

"He was joking. American humor, perverted as it is, it's how we joke." The 'couple's' eyes widened and Keiko nodded. "Do you want to come in?" D said, motioning to inside her house. Keiko quickly shook her head no, and pushed Yuusuke away, as if telling him 'let's get the hell out of here'. Deacon groveled into the floor in pain.

"We actually have plans, but we'll see you later at Genkai's, okay?" Without waiting for an answer, they left. "Bye!"

"Mm, bye." D called boredly as she closed the door. She looked over her shoulder at Deacon, "Smooth Casanova. Really scored that one, didn't cha?" He growled at her as he glared. D moved around the bar top and grabbed a couple eggs out of the fridge. Cracking them with one hand, she started up the burner with the other. Deacon eventually crawled up to sit in one of the bar stools and huffed like a child. She sent him an annoyed looked, which he caught and sneered at her for. "You look like a pouting child."

He glared even harder, as if trying to scare her, "At least I'm not a transvestite." D shrugged and smiled.

"Not so sure about that." Deacon actually blushed as he avoided his eyes. Memories of the numbers of odd missions they had gotten flooded their memories, causing D to have a smile of reminisce and him to scowl in displeasure.

*Poof*

"Yo mistress, got another mission for- why the hell's he here?" Marquise actually stopped to stare at Deacon in shock.

"Hello Orea." Deacon said, his voice filling with curiosity.

Shaking his head in disappointment at his mistress' weakness for past figures, he went back to his original sentence. "Anyways, got another customer for ya."

"Really? What's it for?" D asked as she flipped the eggs.

"Assasination. You're supposed to meet the Ripper for more details other than that. But the bounties well worth dealing with his ugly face for a couple hours and killing whoever." Marquise sent a worried look at Deacon. One that D caught. She followed his eyes to look at Deacon in the eyes, said man was smugly smirking at the Orea.

"He won't do anything. Right?" Deacon caught her look and nodded.

"Of course. Secrets safe with me." He playfully drew an X over his heart with his finger, making D shake her head and chuckle slightly. Marquise didn't trust Deacon, but he'd trust D any day, so he read the contents of the scroll aloud.

"Meet at the Glamoure Masquerade Ball, eight to whenever to discuss details. Bounty for the kill is 70,000 American Dollars, pay for showing up 10,000. Good luck. _Ripper_." D nodded as she grabbed two plates from the cabinet and put some of the eggs on one, and two on the other. She handed the one with more to Deacon, and pulled out a drawer to grab two forks. She slid one onto his plate and one onto hers. Taking a bite as she thought over the deal, she nodded.

"Alright. Let's see who it is then, shall we?"

Marquise grinned as he *poof*ed back into Leore.

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**Review please! You have no idea how much it drives me to write, and how much it means to me, so please just say something, I'd love to know your opinion about my story!**


	12. Always Been Too Smart

Thanks to anyone who reviewed/favorite/alerted! I can only wish the best for YYH, as I do not own it…

* * *

"So I'm coming along, why?"

"You're not."

"Then you told me to follow you, because?"

"Because I'm going to have you meet someone."

"And this someone is important, why?"

"She'll take you off my hands and make sure you're entertained for the remainder of the time I'm gone."

"Entertained, how?"

"Whatever she wants to do."

"So she's a stripper?"

"No, but I bet she knows more than her fair share."

"So I'm going to be entertained again, how?"

"You'll see."

"Isn't this the exact conversation we had that night I took you to meet Lisa?"

D paused and shivered, unwanted memories floating through her head. "Up until two seconds ago when you asked that question, yes, yes it was. Now, moving on."

Deacon was silent for most of the way there past that point. They walked along the sidewalks of the crowded town, quiet as the rest of those around them energetically talked about one thing or another. Japan was a small country, this city even smaller, but it was amazing how, at the same time, it was both extraordinarily different and extremely similar. Deacon followed D, gathering in all of these differences and similarities as she navigated the streets with ease, as if she'd been following them her whole life. But Deacon knew that wasn't true, she had been raised in America, in a small town at the foothills of the Appalachia Mountains. It always amazed him how she could memorize things so easily, having only walked someplace once. He inwardly sighed in slight annoyance; the girl always had been, and probably always would be, too smart for her own good.

**Flashback**

In a small, one story wood house in the foothills of the Appalachia Mountains there laid a girl. She lay in the living room, it was small and cramped, but one got the feeling of coziness had they been there for a number of days. This girl had spent a number of days in the home, having moved there five years ago when her mother could first afford a house.

Demmy sighed as she leaned back in the lounge chair. The old fashioned floral print was enough to kill her eyes if she stared at it for too long, so she shut them, snuggling deeper into the giant mass of softness.

"You do know that if the sword doesn't come soon, I'm going to disappear forever, right?" Demmy peeked one ocean blue eye open at the small girl who stood at the end of the chair. She appeared to be eight years old, with long, straight black hair that went to her belly, and glowing, bright red eyes. Not everyone in the world could see her, just the spiritually aware, as Demmy had come to find.

"Don't worry, it'll be here by the end of the day." She shut the eye and continued to relax, almost drifting into sleep. It was warm, enough to make her sweat had she been wearing any real clothes. Blue jean short shorts only covered what needed to be, showing her long naturally tanned legs. She wore a bikini top for the coverage of her chest, as she needed nothing else on such a blazing hot day. Even with the ceiling fan on, a thin layer of sweat would've developed on her skin by now if it wasn't for the glass of iced lemonade she had on the small corner table to her right. No lights in the house were on, but a few of the back windows were open to let in the cool August breeze.

"It doesn't matter when it's here, if you're not ready for the procedure when it gets here." The girl insisted, her shark like teeth showing their razor deadliness as she talked. Demmy grumbled in annoyance. "Are you even sure it's going to work?" Demmy sat up and glared at the girl who had been constantly interrupting her rest for the past several weeks.

"Yes, I'm positive. Now if we could end this discussion here, I'd be happy to work out all the remaining details of the procedure in my head, as I usually do. However, if we continue this conversation, I must insist that we talk about a topic we haven't already exhausted." Demmy snapped at the pale girl. The girl wasn't fazed at all, and didn't even blink at the harshness in the teen's tone. She instead fell silent, disappearing then reappearing in front of the small couch. Sitting on it, tucked her knees up to her chest and wrapped her small arms around them.

"So this boy, he was asking questions about Spirits? Did he catch onto anything?" Her voice almost sounded innocent. Demmy leaned back into the chair of almighty comfy-ness, not even looking at her while responding.

"Yes and no, I don't think he's figured anything out yet. He stared at my wrist though; right at the place you grabbed it that morning. Acted like it was the most fascinating thing ever. Care to explain that?"

"It would be very fascinating. To just about anybody, actually. It's not every day a spirit of a dead demon teams up with a spiritually aware human. When I touch you, just like when other ghosts touch you, it'll leave a mark. You can't see it, only people who are trained to find it can. Since my hand wrapped around your wrist pretty tightly, it must've left a darker mark than I would've hoped. Demons leave shades of black I think, and human spirits leave blue. If he saw it, then he knows you know more than you're letting on. He knows we have contact." The girl always spoke in a serious tone, and this time was no different.

"Can he do anything about it?" Demmy asked; some level of curiosity in her usual bored tone.

"He can't destroy me, but he can bring the judges." Demmy snapped her fingers in thought.

"Ah, those, um, people? The one's that send you, um, that place!" Demmy couldn't see it as her eyes were currently closed, but the girl raised an eyebrow at the teen's lack of literate words.

"The messengers from the Spirit World that can send me to hell? Yes, those people."

"That'd be bad." The girl nodded as she agreed, looking down past her boney knees to her tiny toes.

"Yes, it would. Someone's pulling into the driveway." Demmy looked up and over, turning to look at where the girl last was. Sighing in slight annoyance at the girl's disappearance, she swung her legs off the chair, pushing herself out of it.

"Must be the mail man." Demmy mumbled to herself as she maneuvered past all the furniture in the room. The doorbell rang just as she touched the handle. Not thinking clearly, she turned the handle and opened the door, staring in shock at the person there for a split second before her eyes narrowed in suspicion.

"I thought we had an agreement to meet at lunch today." Deacon scowled at her as he shoved his hands in his pockets.

"I don't remember making any such appointment. How the hell'd you get my address?" She scowled right back, leaning against the doorknob and placing a hand on her hip. His jaw locked as he glared down the defiant girl.

"I have contacts. Just like you." Demmy raised an eyebrow.

"Me? And just who might I be in contact with?"

"Does a dead demon ring a bell?"

"I didn't know dead demons have a fascination with bells. Perhaps the sweet jingling calms their ferocious nature. But," She cocked her head to the side with a smirk, "that's if demons exist anyway. I didn't know you liked to play around with superstition, you seemed much too serious for fairy tales." Seeing the conversation lost, Deacon, jerked his head past her into the house.

"You goin' to let me in?"

"No."

"Why not?" He grit. D shrugged.

"Maybe because I don't want you inside?" The question was phrased as a statement.

"So you have something in there you don't want seen?" He perked a brow, smirking as he caught what he thought was a hint.

"By the likes of you, yes. Now leave. You have no need to be here." She snapped at him, making him cross his arms and glare. An engine roared as gravel shifted to reveal a brown mailman car coming down the back-hill road.

"Expecting something?" Deacon asked, stepping in her way as she tried to go meet the mailman.

"Yes. Now _move_." She shoved past him, shooting him a glare as she walked down the steps of the porch into her yard. She turned her back on him as the mailman lifted up a slender parcel and a clipboard. Deacon took the second to glance inside her house for any sign of Spirits. A demonic aura laced the room, but there was no spiritual being within sight. He mentally cursed the American Spirit World Laws that bound him, forbidding him from stepping within a house without permission from the occupant or a Spirit World Judge. He snapped his attention back to D as she hopped up the three steps, parcel held tightly in one hand.

"What's that for?" He asked as she moved past him into her house.

"My sister." She kicked the door shut behind her.

It wasn't a lie, but only Demmy knew that at the time.

**Present**

"And here we are." D motioned to a door. He had been led inside an apartment complex, up several flights of stairs, and down many hallways to reach this door.

Whoever behind it better be important.

He shoved his hands in his pockets as D rasped on the door. A seconds wait happened before a loud crash and the shattering of glass met their ears. A loud string of curses followed shortly after. Finally, the door cracked open to reveal a young-looking woman, with long black hair and dark black eyes.

"What do ya want at this hour, D?" She asked, not even glancing at Deacon as she leaned against the door. Anybody could tell she was in the middle of a terrible hangover.

"I was hoping you could accommodate my… friend here to some of the joints around town." D motioned to Deacon. The woman scanned him over, nodding to herself before grinning.

"I'm broke." She waved off the offer.

"That's never stopped you before." D prompted, causing the woman to howl in laughter.

"Alright, alright. What's your name?" She looked to Deacon with a cat-like grin.

"This is Deacon," D motioned to said guy, "Deacon, this is Atsuko, Yuusuke's mother."

Jaw drop did nothing to explain Deacon's reaction. This woman- YOUNG woman- was that guy's mother?! What the hell?!

"Deacon, is it?" Atsuko asked. D nodded as the lady took the too-shocked-for-words male by the bicep, bringing him into her apartment. "Accommodate I shall." Deacon had no time for protest before Atsuko shut the door and D walked off, smirking to herself.

Revenge was oh so sweet.

* * *

"Marquise." D called as she stepped into her apartment, heading for her room. With a poof, he appeared behind her.

"What'cha need, mistress?"

"Get me on the list to the Glamoure Masquerade Ball." She walked into her room, going over to her closet in search for something to wear to the high-class event.

"Already did." Seeing his master nod, he watched as her expression grew annoyed at the fact she had no dresses for that level of high-class event in her closet. Marquise grinned, having planned ahead for this part, too. "Shiruque has your dress at our den." D paused, blinking in shock at the Orea. He had never done something of that matter before.

"What does it look like?" She asked, hesitant. The creature was known for being a pervert, after all.

"No idea. She's the one who picked it out and everything." He motioned for the door. "Better go and get it now. It's a long drive to Tokyo after all, and the Ball's tonight."

"Why would she do something like that?" D asked, confused. Sure, Oreas formed bonds very quickly (hence why she didn't question the fact that they had already moved in together), but buying her a dress? They were also very stingy when it came to money.

"Hell if I know! Stop asking all these damn questions and get to Leore already!" He snapped, irritated she was so nosy. Why couldn't she just accept a nice thing when it happened to her?

D frowned, but nonetheless grabbed a jacket and headed for her motorcycle.

* * *

**Special thanks to Death101-Fox Version, Anon., OMFGZ, Moldy Strawberry, jackinafreakinbox, Kiyoshi Kozue, and Alice for reviewing! Thank you for supporting me throughout this uneven updating schedule! You are all very wonderful people :D**


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